The government and the Greater London Authority are thought to have agreed that private firms will be in charge of maintenance and that the GLA's Transport for London arm will have the power to audit their work.
It is understood that Bob Kiley, commissioner of Transport for London, will make regular checks on the system and will be able to order work to be carried out.
The deal, which ends months of deadlock, is set to be finalised over the weekend. Sources close to the consortiums say that it is partly a response to prime minister Tony Blair's impatience with the impasse. They say the government is keen to get the issue off the agenda before announcing the date for a general election.
One consortium source said it supported the agreement in principle, but it was keen to see more details.
The source said: "We have not changed our plans. If they want to add an extra layer of auditing, that's fine. We are comfortable with that.
"We are saying to the government: 'Show us what you have agreed.' They have got to come to us now to see if it will work." A backer of one of the consortiums said the crucial issue was over the definition of auditing. He said: "It depends whether Kiley will be commenting on maintenance or controlling it. There are still a lot of questions to be answered." A source close to LU said the authority had been left in the dark over the maintenance issue.
He said: "There is a certain amount of chaos at the moment over the whole thing, but it seems the only way of going forward is to do a PPP."
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