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Hundreds of thousands of Londoners will be able to travel around the capital throughout the night from this summer as the official start date for the Night Tube was revealed today.

The long-awaited 24-hour weekend service will begin on 19 August on the Central and Victoria lines, with the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Northern to follow in the autumn.

For the first time in the Tube’s history Londoners will finally be able to travel all night on Friday and Saturdays after almost a year of delays.

The Night Tube will help shift workers and late night revellers get to and from outer London quickly and safely with journeys reduced by an average of 20 minutes and some by more than an hour, according to Transport for London.

The service will play a key role in opening up London’s night-time economy to new opportunities, supporting around 2,000 permanent jobs and boosting London’s economy by £360m.

It means joins the handful of other international cities, including New York and Berlin, which run metro services through the night.

The new Mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the Night Tube was “absolutely vital” to his plans for the capital’s 24-hour economy.

“I have made getting the Night Tube up and running a priority, and London Underground has now confirmed that services on the first two lines will launch on 19 August,” he said.

“The Night Tube is absolutely vital to my plans to support and grow London’s night time economy - creating more jobs and opportunities for all Londoners. The constant delays under the previous Mayor let Londoners down badly.”

Former mayor Boris Johnson originally announced the plans in September 2014 - to begin operations in September 2015 - but he did so without first getting agreement from any of the network’s powerful unions.

Subsequent rows over pay, staffing and working conditions led to a series of bitter strikes and threats of further industrial action, delaying the whole process.

Mr Johnson had hoped for the Night Tube to begin before he left City Hall, viewing it as an important part of his legacy, but then pressed Transport for London for weeks for a start date so he could at least announce it before he stood down.

TfL chief Mike Brown said: “It is good news for London that the first ever all-night Tube service will be ready on 19 August.

“More than half a million people use the Tube after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and the introduction of the Night Tube, which will support London’s businesses and jobs, is a historic step in our modernisation of the Underground and our work to support London’s economic growth.”

Around 200 part-time drivers are currently taking part in a 14-week training programme to make the service a reality.

TfL figures show demand for night-time travel is on the rise. Late night Tube usage is increasing at double the rate of daytime trips and demand for travel on night buses has risen by over 170 per cent since 2000.

There will be six trains per hour through central London on all Night Tube lines between 0030 and 0530. This will rise to eight trains per hour on the Northern line to meet demand at busy stations between Leicester Square and Camden Town.

The Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines will follow in two separate phases later in the autumn as new Tube drivers complete their training and final preparations are made.

Trains will run on the entire line on the Victoria and Jubilee lines, on the Central between Ealing Broadway and Loughton / Hainault, on the entire Northern line except on the Mill Hill East and Bank branches, and between Cockfosters and Heathrow Terminal 5 on the Piccaddilly line.