Ninety-four Deep Tube trains will be built by Siemens for the Piccadilly Line, with the first entering traffic in 2023 in a deal worth around £1.5 billion. The trains will be fitted with air-conditioning, and will be built at Siemens’ new factory in Goole.
It is the first order under the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme, which will modernise the Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City Lines.
Transport for London (TfL) said: “While this order is for an initial 94 trains, the contract will be awarded on the expectation of a single manufacturer building the trains for all four Deep Tube lines. Creating a single train design will allow TfL to maximise cost savings through greater standardisation of train operations, staff training, equipment, spares and maintenance.”
Commissioner of Transport for London Mike Brown said: “Today’s announcement of our intention to award the contract to design and build a new generation Tube train is a huge milestone for London Underground. We are delivering the biggest investment programme in our history to continue to improve customers’ journeys and support London’s population and employment growth. It also demonstrates once again that investment in London creates jobs and apprenticeship opportunities right across the country. These trains will transform the journeys of millions of our customers, and provide faster, more frequent and more reliable trains for decades to come.”
Siemens Mobility Chief Executive Sabrina Soussan added: “We are thrilled by today’s announcement. Our metro trains travel the equivalent of 60 times around the world each week, transporting millions of passengers comfortably and efficiently. With this extensive knowledge and our constant focus on value provision, we can drive down lifecycle costs and significantly improve the passenger experience. This has been key to our development of a unique proposition to meet London’s specific challenges and is essential to help TfL accelerate the growth of the Tube network and improve the capacity and reliability of its train services. Additionally, we can further develop rail skills and our investment, something that is so important to our organisations and the continued success of the UK rail industry.”
The 94 trains will replace the existing 86-strong fleet dating from the 1970s. TfL says more than 700,000 passengers use the line each day. Currently 24 trains per hour (tph) run, but from the end of 2026 there will be 27tph.
Each Siemens Inspiro Tube train will be six metres longer and have walk-through carriages.
TfL confirmed 22 UK suppliers have been identified within the bid to potentially work with Siemens. At least 50 new apprenticeships will be created too.
The bidders for the deal were Alstom, Siemens and a joint venture between Bombardier and Hitachi.
- The FULL story will appear in RAIL 856, published on July 4, and available digitally from June 30 on Android/iPad.
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AndrewJG8918 - 15/06/2018 14:48
I think Siemens are favourites to build new tube trains for London Underground as they have decided to build the new Piccadilly Line stocks to replace the 1973 stocks that are showing their age and have been refurbished couple times since they were first introduced on the Piccadilly Line. Same goes for the Bakerloo Line that Siemens could also manufacture new stocks. But it’s likely to be chosen by other competitors ie Bombardier, Hitachi, CAF etc.
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AndrewJG8918 - 17/06/2018 00:53
The Bakerloo Line will also follow on to get new tube trains to replace the current 1972 tube stocks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_1972_Stock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_1973_Stock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Tube_for_London
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