Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, travel on a Metropolitan line Tube train from Farringdon station to King’s Cross station, as they mark 150 years of the London Underground yesterday.

London Evening Standard/London

Londoners will be able to party for longer at weekends after the boss of the Tube yesterday revealed plans to run extended services until 2am from 2015.

Transport for London’s Mike Brown wants to run trains routinely at least an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays to let people have more fun and to boost the night economy.

He said Transport for London (TfL) had fast-tracked proposals following the success of the Olympics timetable, when the Tube ran at least an hour later every night and coped with record passenger numbers.

But he ruled out New York-style round-the-clock operations, saying the world’s oldest Underground system — marking its 150th anniversary this year — was not built for it.

TfL revealed its proposals after an extension of Tube hours was highlighted in a debate hosted by the Evening Standard on how to improve life in the capital.

Brown said: “The Tube is the artery of London and we want to make the city’s heart beat strongly and later on into the night. It will be a real benefit for London’s night-time economy, either for people working late or enjoying themselves. If people want to buy that extra meal or cup of coffee, why wouldn’t we want to encourage that?

“Following the success of the Olympics and the historic records of reliability, there is a great opportunity to consider what more we could do with our hours — particularly late running on Fridays and Saturdays.”

There was a cautious reaction from powerful Tube union barons. They made clear that while they are not against the scheme in principle, key negotiations concerning pay, shifts and other issues lie ahead.

Extended hours have been made possible thanks to improved reliability after modernisation of the Victoria, Jubilee and Northern lines and planned upgrades to the District, Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines.

A new timetable would be introduced at the start of 2015 at the earliest on a “core network” with routes from north-to-south and east-to-west and with links to the extensive night bus network.

Brown said: “You could operate a core network to get you around large parts of the city but you need to get to this critical point to make it viable from a passenger information perspective if nothing else.” At present the last Victoria line train from Oxford Circus departs at 12.40am on Fridays and Saturdays. The last Northern line train from Leicester Square also leaves at 12.40am. Both would benefit from a later service to get revellers home.