FANS heading to Wimbledon this morning were faced with significant delays due to severe issues on the District Line.
SunSport was told by TfL staff on the ground that delays were caused by a signal issue, with engineers on the track attempting to fix the problem and trains stuck between Parsons Green and Wimbledon.
Severe issues have affected the District Line this morning
GettySouthfield station is the closest to the All England Club[/caption]
Southfields is the closest station to the All England Club, with around 14,000 fans travelling there during each day of the tournament thus far.
In addition to Southfields, the District Line also stops at Wimbledon Park and Wimbledon.
The signal failure is believed to have occurred at Putney Bridge.
Tournament chief executive Sally Bolton told The Sun: “So we have an excellent relationship with TfL.
“We’re working with them all year.
“You won’t be surprised to hear that we have been speaking to them during the Championships.
“We have been and remain clear with them that delivering an event of this scale in this part of London requires the infrastructure in this part of London to support us in doing that.
“They’re very aware of that view, and we have arranged to catch up with them after the Championships, to look at not just what happened this year, but also to look ahead in terms of investment into the District line.”
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Bolton refused to say if she was “disappointed” with the level of service.
Around 42,000 fans attend the Championships each day during the first week of the tournament.
The All England Club want to increase this number to 50,000 by expanding the grounds onto the former golf club that it has already acquired.
These plans would include the construction of a new 8,000-seater show court, and would cost an estimated £200million.
The Club received planning permission last September, but this is subject to a judicial review set to begin tomorrow.
The Save Wimbledon Park group claim that the decision was unlawful and that the expansion would be bad for the environment.
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Wimbledon MP Paul Kolher said the Mayor of London was personally responsible for the District line failings.
He said: “It’s just continuing frustration for visitors to the tennis and commuters, it’s a real pain.
“It’s appalling of course. This is the jewel in the crown of British sport. And we can’t get the infrastructure working to get people there and back.”
He said the local community and area was being “incapacitated” by the district line being unable to cope.
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The MP added: “There is continued concern about Sir Sadiq’s role in supervising TfL.
“It beggars belief that some parts of the line are more than 100 years old.
“He needs to put more money into the infrastructure.
“He’s got to get a grip. It’s down to him to sort out TfL and we have a real problem on the District line.”
He called on any expansion of the championships to include a compromise of improved services on the line.
A TfL spokesman said: “We apologise to customers affected by the disruption on the District Line today, which is due to a track fault at Putney Bridge.
“We acknowledge that today’s disruption comes on the back of a challenging week for District Line services last week.
“We are continuing to work closely with organisers of the Wimbledon Championships and Network Rail to ensure that we deliver a reliable service and share up-to-date travel information with customers.”
Play was scheduled to begin on the outside courts at 11am this morning, with fans facing a rush to make it in time.
No2 Court commenced with former finalist Marin Cilic taking on 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli.
While British pair Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash opened No3 Court with their men’s doubles clash against Marcel Demoliner and Guido Andreozzi.
Last Tuesday, a fire alert at Southfields saw the District Line grind to a halt.
The issue caused “severe delays” with “no service” on much of the track.
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