[Deltic]

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who controls the city's underground commuter train system, said he's powerless to force a contractor to improve its maintenance of the Northern Line because he's bound by contracts signed before he took over. London Underground's Northern Line, the rail system's busiest, shut Oct. 12-14 after a series of emergency-brake failures on trains. City transportation chief Robert Kiley yesterday said Alstom SA's 20-year agreement to maintain trains on the line should be scrapped because of the breakdowns.

(source: Bloomberg)