Tube chief Tim O’Toole has quit London Underground amid a growing row over a £5 billion shortfall in the public funding for expanding and improving the network,

The Unions say that the 'damaging policies' of the American transport guru "need to be reversed"

The loss of the Tubes managing director is a severe blow to Mayor Boris Johnson who was counting on the 54-year-olds experience to see the project through the economic downturn.

Both Johnson and his Transport for London commissioner Peter Hendy pleaded with O'Toole to stay.

Officially O’Toole’s is resigning to spend more time with his wife and two grown-up children back in the US - yet they have always lived in the US during Mr O’Toole’s six years at LU.
 

1,000 jobs cut - upgrades cancelled - Crossrail - Overground

LU is cutting 1,000 jobs and delaying station refurbishments while the Overground powers ahead with the extension of the East London Line and eventual Orbital rail route, including the £16bn Crossrail project.

The Victoria Line is having a new fleet of trains introduced shortly and the District, Circle, Metropolitan, Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines are all due to have about 20-30 per cent more trains per hour added over the next few years.

The Rail Transport and Maritime Union said:

"A transport chief is only as good as the policies he or she is implementing, and Transport for London has launched an assault on jobs that can only harm service provision."

And on the eventual successor RMT boss Bob Crow said they: "need to scrap attacks on jobs, get rid of what’s what is left of the PPP and get the Tube’s upgrade back on track."

The collapse of Metronet, a public-private partnership forced on TfL by Prime Minister Gordon Brown has severely damaged the networks coffers. Crow added "it is no place for failed private-sector experiments, short-sighted cuts or the petty bully-boy management our members increasingly complain of."

Livingstone's man - official reaction

O’Toole is the last of the American transport chiefs recruited by former Mayor Ken Livingstone to leave TfL.

Mr O’Toole, who was on a salary of £450,000, said last night:

"I am sad to leave LU but after six years in London it is time to go home. LU’s customers and employees can look forward to the continuing transformation of the Tube with the delivery of major projects between now and the London 2012 games. I am particularly proud that LU employees have achieved record operating results and all-time high levels of customer satisfaction in this past year. I shall always be grateful for the privilege of being part of such a great institution.”

Boris Johnson said he fully understood "Tim's desire to return home after six years serving London and wished him and "his family all the very best."

TfL commissioner Mr Hendy said:

"Tim has led LU to its highest levels of performance while carrying record numbers of passengers - all at a time of great change as billions are invested to improve the Tube. His leadership was exemplified by getting London moving again so quickly after the terrorist attacks of July 2005."

External successor expected

Deputy Richard Parry is thought unlikely to be offered the position. Transport for London, parent company of the Tube, will advertise for an external candidate rather than promote internally.

An advert for his replacement "will be placed shortly" according to a TfL spokesman.