TRANSPORT bosses say the service on the Victoria underground line has greatly improved since upgrade works were completed.

The line, which connects the borough's Walthamstow Central and Blackhorse Road stations with central London, has had a new signalling system put in place alongside a new fleet of trains last year.

But the works caused years of regular suspensions at weekends and delays due to teething problems with the new trains.

A report last September by MPs said the Victoria Line was one of the worst performing in the capital, with a 43 per cent increase in delays over the previous two years.

But Transport for London (TfL) said overall, since the upgrade programme began in 2003, delays have now more than halved.

It said they had also been cut by a third in four years.

The upgrades have also led to an increase in the number of trains, with 30 running per hour at peak times.

Mike Brown, LU Managing Director, said TfL was on course to achieve its aim of a 21 per cent increase in capacity by early 2013.

He said: "The Victoria line has seen enormous growth in demand in recent years, and this upgrade helped to deliver a successful London 2012 Games.

"Our customers are now experiencing the benefits with more frequent and more reliable services and a huge number of accessibility improvements. 

"We're now running a train every two minutes at peak times and early next year we will begin to run even more - with 33 trains per hour at the busiest times".