IT IS the constant gripe of the capital’s sweaty commuters: why can nothing be done about sweltering temperatures on the Tube in the summer?

Exasperated by the problem of how to cool carriages — and travellers’ tempers — transport bosses begged the public to come up with a solution and offered £100,000 for the best plan. Sadly, most of the 3,500 entries from 60 countries owed more to imagination than practicality. London Underground has closed the competition and decided that none of the submissions deserved to win.

Suggestions were accompanied by diagrams, charts and detailed instructions. Open-top carriages, decorating stations to look like icescapes, handing out concertina fans made from flame-retardant tube maps and encouraging passengers to strip off were among the ideas.

One entrant recommended replacing the trains and tracks with an underwater canal, saying: “The slow pace of travel will make it pleasant.” Another said: “Crank up the power on the London Eye and make it an oversized fan,” while an artistic soul suggested water curtains with different coloured lights — “people will be calmed when trains don’t arrive”.

Many submissions recommended air conditioning systems, with some giving detailed scientific explanations and formulae.

New trains for the Circle, District, Hammersmith and City, and Metropolitan lines will come with cooling, but the first is not due until 2009. Meanwhile, various projects are under way including works on the 140 vent shafts on the network and the provision of 30 per cent more fan capacity.

The competition demanded a solution that would work above and below ground; address environmental issues; be economically viable; work within the space available and comply with health and safety.

The tube is the oldest metro system in the world. Its basic tunnel infrastructure has changed little since it was built more than 140 years ago. Most of the network was constructed long before air-conditioning was invented so no provision was made for its installation.

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