Transport for London has announced that London Underground Limited has signed a contract with Siemens to design and build 94 new generation Tube trains.
The new trains will replace the existing fleet of trains which date back to the 1970s.
The current trains are old and are getting expensive to maintain. From 2023, new spacious ‘Inspiro London' trains will be delivered for testing on the Piccadilly line, with it hoped that passengers will be using the trains in 2024.
These new state of the art trains come with wider doors and longer, walk-through, fully air-conditioned carriages. In addition, in-train information systems will help all customers plan their onward journey more easily.
The initial order is for 94 trains and an associated Fleet Services Agreement covering the supply of spares and whole life technical support and amounts to a value of approximately £1.5bn.
These new trains will be built at the new Siemens factory in Goole, Yorkshire.
What did the officials say?
Nigel Holness, Managing Director of London Underground, said:
‘The introduction of new trains on the Piccadilly line will significantly improve the journeys of millions of our customers, providing more frequent and more reliable trains for decades to come. This order will mean the replacement of the 1970s Piccadilly line fleet, with delivery of the new trains in 2023, and will help address crowding on the line as London's population continues to rise.'
William Wilson, Managing Director Rolling Stock of Siemens Mobility Limited, said:
‘These state-of-the-art trains, which are track-friendly and future-proofed for a long life, will transform the travel experience for the 700,000 daily Piccadilly line passengers.
‘We've thought about travellers at every stage of the process and as a result the trains feature walk-through carriages with wider doors, improved access to make them easier to get on and off, and feature full air-conditioning – a real challenge in hot tunnels.'
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At least these trains are being built in the UK and not abroad which is to often the case.
Not just the Piccadilly Line to get the new air-conditioning tube trains to replace the ageing stocks built in the 1970s. But also the Bakerloo Line also needs to replace their ageing tube stocks with new air-conditioning tube trains.
Same applies with the Central and Waterloo & City Lines. I think Siemens should win the contract to manufacture the new tube trains for the 4 deep level lines. With Alstom to maintain the 1995 and 1996 stocks on the Northern and Jubilee Lines.
And Bombardier to maintain the S8 stock on the Metropolitan Line and S7 stocks on the Hammersmith & City, Circle and District Lines and the 2009 stocks used on the Victoria Line.