London Transport Executive

The London Transport Executive (LTE) was the organisation responsible for public transport in the Greater London area, UK, between 1948–1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.

On 1 January 1948, under the provisions of the Transport Act 1947, the London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised and renamed the London Transport Executive, becoming a subsidiary organisation of the British Transport Commission, which was formed on the same day. Another subsidiary of the Commission was the Railway Executive (which traded as British Railways), which meant that London Transport and the main-line railways were under the same management for the first and last time in their respective histories.

A great deal of the early work of the LTE was spent repairing and replacing stock and stations damaged during the war. LTE also oversaw the completion of the delayed Central line expansion, which had been part of the 1935-40 New Works Programme begun by the LPTB. By 1949, the westbound extension to West Ruislip and the eastbound extension to Ongar was finished.

The main priority of the BTC was to modernise its main-line railways and many of the uncompleted projects which were part of the New Works programme were postponed or shelved. These included plans to extend the Bakerloo line to Camberwell, and to extend the Northern line to Bushey Heath, linking up the separate branches terminating at Edgware and Mill Hill East in the process. However, this latter scheme (the Northern Heights) was never completed, as the protection of the countryside, under the newly created Green Belt plan, stopped residential building in this area and reduced passenger numbers would not justify the expenditure.