Night Tube start date: London Underground confirms all-night service will begin in August

Central and Victoria lines will start first followed by the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Northern lines in the autumn

London Underground has confirmed it will begin running all-night services on some of its major lines in August.

The 24-hour weekend service will begin on the Central and Victoria lines on 19 August.

The Piccadilly, Jubilee and Northern lines will follow in the autumn.

The introduction of the service will come nearly a year after it was first schedule to start on 12 September 2015 following a prolonged dispute with London Underground workers' unions, Rail and Maritime Transport (RMT) and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef).

The unions launched a series of joint 24-hour full strikes last summer which saw the city's transport system grid to halt.

Representatives from RMT and Aslef have said the night tube could have been introduced sooner but blamed Transport for London (Tfl) for 18 months of "tortuous" negotiations on pay and conditions before a deal was reached.

The new Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said the night tube was "absolutely vital" to his plan to "support and grown London's night time economy" .

Passengers will be able to travel on Friday nights and in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings (TFL)

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.

“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.”

According to figures released by the Mayor's office, the number of late night tube journeys is increasing at double the rate of daytime times and demand for travel on night buses has risen by over 170 per cent since 2000.

The office estimates the move will support about 2,000 permanent jobs for Londoners and boost the city's economy by £360m.

But RMT has said they still have "major concerns" over the safe running of the service.

General Secretary Mike Cash said: "There are major unresolved issues in relation to the Tube Lines engineering workforce and it is imperative that the company now moves quickly to address the points at the core of that dispute and reaches a proper negotiated settlement with the union that doesn't leave that essential group of workers disadvantaged on conditions and pensions.

"Against a background of massive cuts over shadowing TFL budgets all parties have to be clear that Night Tube, a development that RMT supports, cannot be delivered on the cheap."