Have you ever been on the Waterloo and City line? The turquoise tube service has a fairly niche purpose, ferrying passengers between just two stops: (as the name suggests) Waterloo and Bank station in the City of London. It’s mostly used by Square Mile commuters from southwest London.
‘The Drain’, as it’s affectionately known, is made even more niche by the fact that it hasn’t been open on the weekend since 2020. In the pandemic the line was suspended, but when the Waterloo and City reopened in June 2021 it only did so on weekdays. While it previously operated on Saturdays, for the last six years it’s been closed all weekend.
But that could all be about to change. According to a Local Democracy Reporting Service story in MyLondon, the Waterloo and City could soon restart its Saturday services.
The City of London Corporation has apparently written to the Mayor's Office and Transport for London (TfL) to make a case for a Saturday W&C service. The turquoise line’s weekend reopening would initially be just a trial.
By total number of users the W&C is the least-busy London Underground line. However, if you measure its busyness by passengers-per-kilometre, it’s actually among the most packed lines.
So, if ‘The Drain’ is mostly a commuter route, why reopen it on Saturdays? Well, it’s all part of a plan by the City of London Corporation to boost weekend visitors in the Square Mile. The Corp wants to increase footfall on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays by 5 percent.
Commenting on plan to reopen the W&C line on Saturdays, the Corporation’s Policy Chairman Chris Hayward said: ‘As we move more and more towards being a seven-day a week destination, having “The Drain” as it’s commonly known open on weekends is of fundamental importance to us.’
Whether the Waterloo and City line will revive weekend services (or when it might happen) is yet to be revealed. Watch this space for updates.
It’s been a big week-and-a-bit for the future of London transport. The new Overground line in west London just got a step closer to actually happening, London City airport could get bigger and quieter planes, there’s a radical plan to power the tube with solar energy and TfL revealed when the new DLR trains are coming back into service.
ICYMI: Why people on London Underground escalators stand on the right – and not the left.
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