Pressure has mounted on the Piccadilly line upgrade after local MP Mary Macleod stepped up her campaign urging the transport secretary to intervene.

In a letter to Patrick McLoughlin she has asked for help in getting the line improved sooner and for trains to stop at Turnham Green during off-peak hours in the meantime so Chiswick residents can start to benefit from better transport links.

The long-running campaign made headway in December last year, when Ms Macleod along with local residents finally received backing from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson to stop Piccadilly lines trains at Turnham Green tube station throughout the day.

However this will only happen once the line upgrade takes place.

Ms Macleod, Brentford and Isleworth MP, said: “We won the argument over whether trains would stop at Turnham Green, but residents want action quickly and I completely agree.

"That is why I am asking the Transport Secretary to intervene today.

“I want Piccadilly line trains to stop at Turnham Green at off-peak times as soon as possible so that residents can start to benefit from better transport links right away.

"I asked the Transport Secretary to look into this, and I will keep up the pressure on Transport for London (TfL) to take action and improve services for local people.”

Currently Piccadilly line trains stop at Turnham Green station from 10.30pm to 6.50am.

The MPs comments follow her recent Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House, Rt Hon. Andrew Lansley MP, during which she asked for a statement on upgrading the Piccadilly line sooner.

At the same time, Mary has been continuing to pressure TfL on stopping trains at off-peak hours as soon as possible.

In October last year, Hounslow Council proposed to TfL if it was looking for gift ideas to celebrate the borough's half centenary what it wants most is for Piccadilly line trains to finally serve Turnham Green.

At the beginning of the year TfL confirmed Piccadilly line trains will stop at Turnham Green.

Nigel Holness, London Underground operations director for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, said:"We'll be stopping Piccadilly lines trains at Turnham Green all day once the line is modernised and we have new trains and more of them. 

"In the meantime the users of the station will have new District line trains arriving from next year and more frequent services from 2018, and the Piccadilly line will stop throughout the night at Turnham Green when the Night Tube network starts in 2015.'