PRESSURE is mounting on Metropolitan line managers to 'get a grip' on weekend closures for maintenance work.

People in much of the borough have had to suffer severely disrupted routes into central London during the four-day Easter break.

Later this year, new S-class trains will replace carriages that have put in almost 50 years of service and are the oldest on the London Underground (LU) network.

But service frequency will not improve until new signals are installed in 2016, a delay that was caused by the collapse of private contractor Metronet.

Peter O'Brien, a member of the Federation of Metropolitan Line Users' Committees (FOMLUC), said: "Met line managers just seem to accept daily breakdowns and weekend closures as 'the way things are'.

"They are excessively complacent."

With FOMLUC, Mr O'Brien has met LU managers to discuss the problems.

They were told the new trains were too long for many platforms, which will have to be rebuilt, and the signals needed to help reduce journey times have yet to be installed.

"They just seem to be on a different planet," Mr O'Brien added. "They don't understand how this affects people's lives.

"I think they made a huge mistake buying trains that were too long and in not buying the new signals at the same time."

Responding to these criticisms, Transport for London (TfL) spokesman Ben Pennington said on Tuesday: "We are now carrying out work to lengthen platforms to give customers even more capacity.

"We had to restructure the signalling contract after Metronet went into administration, but we will be encour-aging the new contractor to make sure there are fewer closures."

Ruislip and Northwood MP Mr Hurd told the Observer this week that he had met TfL commissioner Peter Hendy to discuss problems on the Met line.

"They hope to be placing the contract for signalling this autumn but it depends on the budget," he said.

"The weekend closures will not improve next year but will tail off, or so they claim.

"I will be keeping the pressure up by writing to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to make sure he understands the frustration, and I will be contacting all the MPs who have Met line stations within their constituencies, to ask them to join the lobby for more urgent action."

Mr Hurd has set up an online survey for Met line users to voice their opinion about the service - see www.surveymonkey.com/s/7YBN9DV

The Conservative MP added: "The current situation is intolerable.

"We need the engineers to get a grip and tell us when we will have a line that is fit for purpose."