London mayor, Boris Johnson, is set to take control of the entire London Underground network back into public sector hands. Transport for London (TfL) will buy Tube Lines from its shareholders, Amey and Bechtel, despite having a similar bid rejected last autumn. TfL will take control of the company's contracts and staff following a disastrous £30bn public-private partnership, which the mayor has branded ‘daylight robbery'. Tube Lines had proposed TfL pay it £4.4bn for the planned upgrade of the Northern line, when London Underground argued the ‘true cost' was £400m less.