The new night Tube service, which was due to be launched on September 12, has been officially suspended until an agreement can be reached between the operator and workers, London Underground has confirmed.

The night Tube will see trains run for 24 hours across the weekend, but it has been held back due to disagreement over working conditions and shift rosters.

The dispute has already led to two Tube strikes in the capital, but progress is being made as two that were scheduled for this week have been postponed to early September.

Now London Underground believes they are close to striking a bargain with their employees, and that the night Tube will be delivered “for Londoners this autumn” - just not by September 12.

Managing director Nick Brown, said: “Further to the progress made in recent days with the trade unions and the suspension of strike action, we believe we are not far from an agreement that protects the work-life balance of our employees and is affordable, sustainable and fair. As such, we have decided to defer the introduction of Night Tube to allow more time for those talks to conclude. Our objective is to reach an agreement that ends this dispute and delivers the Night Tube for Londoners this Autumn.”

Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF which is one of the unions involved, said: “We welcome this decision by London Underground, which gives us all the time and space to negotiate properly on the introduction of the Night Tube in the capital.”

He added: “Common sense has broken out at London Underground and now we can sit down with them and work this out.”