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Parts of the London Underground will be "inoperable" within 15 years due to the capital's soaring population, a Tube executive has warned.

Miles Ashley, London Underground's programme director for construction, said passengers at up to 50 stations in Zone 1 would face conditions akin to four people crammed into a telephone box.

He said the cause of the problem is the capital's soaring population, which has already been blamed for frequent closures of some stations due to overcrowding.

Transport for London said the Tube network would handle 1.3 billion passengers this year - up from 800million in 2002.

That figure is expected to hit 1.7 billion by 2026 as London's population is forecast to grow from 8.8m to 10.2m by 2030.

And in a stark warning about the Tube network's capacity to cope with the growth in demand, the Sunday Times reported that Mr Ashley told an audience of engineering researchers at Imperial College London: "I don’t know whether you have ever stood in a telephone box with 3½ of your friends... but ultimately that gives you an illustration of just how crowded parts of these stations are going to be and the challenge that faces us. It renders it inoperable.”

A look back at the London commute 22 show all A look back at the London commute 1/22 On the London Underground a commuter reads a copy of D H Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', unaware of the fellow passengers surreptitiously reading over his shoulder, 3rd November 1960 Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 2/22 Chancellor of the Exchequer William Ewart Gladstone with directors and engineers of the Metropolitan Railway Company on an inspection tour of the world's first underground line, 24th May 1862. Built between Paddington and the City of London, it opened in January of the following year. Gladstone is seen in the front row, near right Getty Images 3/22 27th September 1919: London workers on their way to the city during the railway strike Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) 4/22 12th April 1957: Guitarist Brian Hinton busking to travellers on the London Underground Express/Getty Images 5/22 June 1919: Bank holiday crowds piling onto an open top tram car at Golders Green station, London H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 6/22 25th November 1975: A queue at the ticket office at Gloucester Road underground station, London Fred Mott/Evening Standard 7/22 'Guardian Angel' Curtis Sliwa patrolling a London Tube train in 1989 Rex 8/22 1st April 1979: A string quartet play on the Jubilee Line at Bond Street station, London Graham Morris/Evening Standard 9/22 13th October 1944: An underground train on the District Line in London, equipped with a new system of lighting Getty Images 10/22 13th April 1967: London commuters try out the new Raleigh motorised small-wheeled cycle, which features automatic transmission Fox Photos/Getty Images 11/22 A cyclist riding a penny farthing over Hammersmith Bridge, London circa 1900's Hulton Archive/Getty Images 12/22 The Escalator at Holborn Station in 1939 Anthony Wallace/Associated Newspapers 13/22 Traffic using Putney Bridge, 1929 Fox Photos/Getty Images 14/22 Stranded commuters in 1965 wait on platform 6 at Cannon Street station in London during a train driver's go-slow. Tempers became frayed with passengers demanding announcements and protesting with slow hand claps and boos. Station staff refused to work without a police escort Norman Potter/Getty Images 15/22 Commuters entering Piccadilly Circus Tube station, London, circa 1953 Ernst Haas/Ernst Haas/Getty Images 16/22 16th March 1934: Passengers arrive at Victoria train station in London Fox Photos/Getty Images 17/22 circa 1965: Commuters cross London Bridge on their way to work Central Press/Getty Images 18/22 circa 1939: Commuters travelling by train at Waterloo Railway Station, London Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 19/22 A crowded platform at Paddington Station, London, during the General Strike, 12th May 1926 Kirby/Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 20/22 December 1956: A London policeman directs commuters to an alternative entrance to London's Piccadilly Circus underground Tube station Werner Rings/BIPs/Getty Image 21/22 1900's: A London tram running between Brixton, Kennington, Elephant and Castle, and Blackfriars Bridge Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 22/22 1924: The entrance to Blackfriars Underground station, London Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 1/22 On the London Underground a commuter reads a copy of D H Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', unaware of the fellow passengers surreptitiously reading over his shoulder, 3rd November 1960 Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 2/22 Chancellor of the Exchequer William Ewart Gladstone with directors and engineers of the Metropolitan Railway Company on an inspection tour of the world's first underground line, 24th May 1862. Built between Paddington and the City of London, it opened in January of the following year. Gladstone is seen in the front row, near right Getty Images 3/22 27th September 1919: London workers on their way to the city during the railway strike Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) 4/22 12th April 1957: Guitarist Brian Hinton busking to travellers on the London Underground Express/Getty Images 5/22 June 1919: Bank holiday crowds piling onto an open top tram car at Golders Green station, London H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 6/22 25th November 1975: A queue at the ticket office at Gloucester Road underground station, London Fred Mott/Evening Standard 7/22 'Guardian Angel' Curtis Sliwa patrolling a London Tube train in 1989 Rex 8/22 1st April 1979: A string quartet play on the Jubilee Line at Bond Street station, London Graham Morris/Evening Standard 9/22 13th October 1944: An underground train on the District Line in London, equipped with a new system of lighting Getty Images 10/22 13th April 1967: London commuters try out the new Raleigh motorised small-wheeled cycle, which features automatic transmission Fox Photos/Getty Images 11/22 A cyclist riding a penny farthing over Hammersmith Bridge, London circa 1900's Hulton Archive/Getty Images 12/22 The Escalator at Holborn Station in 1939 Anthony Wallace/Associated Newspapers 13/22 Traffic using Putney Bridge, 1929 Fox Photos/Getty Images 14/22 Stranded commuters in 1965 wait on platform 6 at Cannon Street station in London during a train driver's go-slow. Tempers became frayed with passengers demanding announcements and protesting with slow hand claps and boos. Station staff refused to work without a police escort Norman Potter/Getty Images 15/22 Commuters entering Piccadilly Circus Tube station, London, circa 1953 Ernst Haas/Ernst Haas/Getty Images 16/22 16th March 1934: Passengers arrive at Victoria train station in London Fox Photos/Getty Images 17/22 circa 1965: Commuters cross London Bridge on their way to work Central Press/Getty Images 18/22 circa 1939: Commuters travelling by train at Waterloo Railway Station, London Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 19/22 A crowded platform at Paddington Station, London, during the General Strike, 12th May 1926 Kirby/Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 20/22 December 1956: A London policeman directs commuters to an alternative entrance to London's Piccadilly Circus underground Tube station Werner Rings/BIPs/Getty Image 21/22 1900's: A London tram running between Brixton, Kennington, Elephant and Castle, and Blackfriars Bridge Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 22/22 1924: The entrance to Blackfriars Underground station, London Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Although the £15bn Crossrail project will boost capacity by 10 per cent when it opens in 2018, Mr Ashley said the increase would have been overtaken by passenger growth by 2026.

And he suggested drivers may be told to simply not stop at some of the most chronically overcrowded stations on the network.

"Sometimes it is more important to get people out," Mr Ashley said.

"If you can’t get people off the platform for the next train to arrive, then you have to run to non-stopping... The ability to empty... platforms is fundamental.”

The predictions were labelled "truly terrifying" by union bosses, who highlighted the overcrowding which already blights stations such as King's Cross, Victoria and Oxford Circus.

Transport for London has said it has one of the "biggest investment programmes in the world" aimed at addressing the problem.

A spokesman for London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the Sunday Times: "We need to encourage people to use other forms of public transport and that is why Sadiq will invest in making it safer and easier to walk or cycle.”

