London Underground 2024 Stock | |
---|---|
Stock type | Deep-level tube |
In service | Planned for 2025 |
Manufacturer | Siemens Mobility |
Built at | |
Family name | Inspiro |
Replaced | 1973 Stock |
Constructed | 2022–present |
Formation | 9 cars per train [1] |
Capacity | 1,076 per train (268 seated) [1] |
Lines served | Piccadilly |
Specifications | |
Train length | 113.7 m (373 ft 3⁄8 in) [1] |
Width | 2.648 m (8 ft 8+1⁄4 in) [1] |
Height | 2.844 m (9 ft 3+15⁄16 in) [1] |
Maximum speed | 100 km/h (62 mph) [1] |
Power output | 2.5 MW (3,400 hp) [1] |
Electric system(s) | Fourth rail, 630 or 750 V DC [1] |
Current collector(s) | Contact shoe |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
Notes/references | |
London transportportal |
The London Underground 2024 Stock, known as the New Tube for London (NTfL) during development, is a London Underground train being built by Siemens Mobility at its facilities in Goole, United Kingdom and Vienna, Austria. It is part of the Siemens Inspiro family of metro and rapid-transport trains. [2]
An initial batch of 94 nine-car trains has been ordered at a cost of £1.5 billion to replace 1973 Stock trains on the Piccadilly line, with options for a total of 250 trains allowing replacement of all existing trains on the deep-level Central, Waterloo & City and Bakerloo lines. Planned starting date for the service is 2025, firstly on the Piccadilly line. [3] [4] [5] The trains will enter service with a train driver, with future potential for driverless operation. [6]
In the late 1990s, the Labour government initiated a public–private partnership (PPP) to reverse years of underinvestment in London Underground. [7] Under the PPP contracts, two private consortiums (Metronet and Tube Lines) would maintain, renew and upgrade London Underground infrastructure over a period of 30 years from 2003. [8] As part of the upgrade work, new rolling stock was to be ordered. [9] [10]
Tube Lines planned to order 93 new Piccadilly line trains, which would enter service by 2014. [10] In January 2007, Tube Lines started the process of ordering new Piccadilly line trains, by querying if train manufacturers would be interested in supplying them. [11] Contract award was anticipated for 2008, with trains to enter service on the Piccadilly line in 2014. [11] Following the delivery of 2009 Stock and S Stock trains in the 2010s, Metronet planned to order 24 new Bakerloo line trains, which would enter service by 2019. [9]
However, Metronet was placed in administration in 2007 after cost overruns, [12] and Transport for London (TfL) bought out the Tube Lines consortium in 2010, formally ending the PPP. [13]
Following the collapse of the PPPs, TfL began planning the modernisation of Underground lines not started by the PPP. This project would include the eventual replacement of trains, new signalling and other upgrades to the Piccadilly, Central, Waterloo & City and Bakerloo lines. [14] This would complete the modernisation of Underground lines started with the formation of TfL in 2000. [15]
In 2017 TfL said that existing trains on the Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines were approaching the end of their useful lives, and the 1992 Stock used on the Central and Waterloo & City lines was significantly less reliable than more modern rolling stock. [14] [16]
Replacement of these older trains with open gangway rolling stock – similar to the S Stock used on the Underground's subsurface lines – would increase passenger capacity, with new automatic signalling increasing capacity further. [14] Although the use of open gangways was considered in the late 1990s, [17] the Bombardier 2009 Stock did not have open gangways. New trains would also have air conditioning, which earlier deep-level trains lacked. [14]
In 2011, Siemens presented "EVO" – a conceptual articulated train with walk-through cars, that would be 30 tonnes lighter, consume 17 per cent less energy and have 11 per cent more passenger capacity than existing trains. [18] [19] [20] A mock-up of the Siemens Inspiro design was exhibited at The Crystal between October 2013 and January 2014. [20] Siemens also proposed building the new train in the UK, after being criticised for building the Class 700 Thameslink trains in Germany. [21]
New trains would have the potential to operate automatically without a driver, which would save operating costs and prevent disruption during strikes. [6] [22] This unattended train operation would require the installation of platform screen doors, a substantial additional cost. [14] The ASLEF and RMT trade unions that represent drivers strongly oppose the introduction of driverless trains, saying it would affect safety. [23] [24]
In 2020, a leaked TfL study found that the upgrade work required for totally unattended train operation – platform screen doors at stations and a safety walkway in tunnels [25] – would cost around £7 billion, concluding that "the financial payback is negative". The study also indicated that automatically driven trains with a member of staff present on board (similar to the Docklands Light Railway) offered "reasonable value for money." [26] However, the Department for Transport pushed for the introduction of driverless trains as a precondition of any future long-term funding deal for TfL. [27]
In early 2014, the project was named New Tube for London (NTfL) and moved from a feasibility stage to the design and specification stage. A TfL feasibility study showed that new generation trains and re-signalling could increase capacity:
Line | Capacity increase | tph | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Piccadilly | 60% | 36 | |
Central | 25% | 36 | |
Waterloo & City | 50% | 30 | Requires track remodelling at Waterloo |
Bakerloo | 25% | 27 |
Overall, the project is estimated to cost a total of £16 billion, with a benefit/cost ratio of 4.2 to 1. [6] [28] The Piccadilly line would be the first to be upgraded, given the age of its rolling stock. [29] Other lines would then be upgraded over a period of around 10 years.
In early 2014, TfL invited train manufacturers to make expressions of interest in the Official Journal of the European Union . [30] [31] TfL also commissioned industrial designers PriestmanGoode to produce a conceptual design to be used by the train manufacturers. [32] [33] [34] Unveiled in October 2014 to high acclaim, [35] the design included several features not seen before on the deep level tube, including walk-through carriages and air conditioning. [36] [37]
In late 2014, TfL published a shortlist of manufacturers who had expressed an interest in supplying new trains – Alstom, Siemens, Hitachi, CAF and Bombardier. [36] The invitation to tender for the trains was issued in January 2016. [30] [31] It was planned to award the contract in 2016, with trains entering service in 2023. [29] During the tender period, Bombardier and Hitachi formed a joint venture (JV), and CAF chose not to submit a bid. Three bids (Alstom, Siemens, Hitachi/Bombardier JV) were submitted in September 2016. [15] All bidders proposed to build the trains in existing or new UK factories. [38] [39]
Since TfL could not afford 250 new trains and upgraded signalling, it decided to buy only 94 trains, for the Piccadilly line, and relegate future train purchases to contract options. [40] [41] [15] In 2019, TfL raised £1 billion to buy the Piccadilly line trains by selling and leasing back Class 345 Elizabeth line trains. [42]
In total, 250 trains could be ordered throughout the lifetime of the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme, comprising 100 trains for the Piccadilly line, 40 for the Bakerloo line, 100 for the Central line and 10 for the Waterloo & City line. [5] Future trains would be adapted to meet the requirements of lines, with the potential of active steering of bogies, and different numbers of cars per trainset as required. [43]
In 2023, the Railway Industry Association requested that a decision to order Bakerloo line trains should be made as soon as possible, given the age of the 1972 Stock trains and to provide continuous work for the Goole factory. [44] TfL's financial issues following the COVID-19 pandemic means that the order has not been made, with Mayor Sadiq Khan requesting investment from Government. [45]
In June 2018, the Siemens Mobility Inspiro design was selected, with 94 trains ordered in a £1.5 billion contract. [46] In July 2018, the award was challenged, unsuccessfully, in the High Court by the Hitachi/Bombardier JV; [47] Siemens was awarded the contract in November 2018. [48]
TfL said that the trains would be designed and built by Siemens Mobility at its planned £200m new factory in Goole, East Yorkshire, [39] and later that 50 per cent of the trains would be built at an existing Siemens factory in Vienna, Austria, while the Goole factory was constructed. [2] In July 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the Goole site to mark the start of construction of the factory. [49] [50] Manufacturing of the trains in Austria started in August 2021. [51] In January 2024, Siemens announced that the majority of the new trains, would be manufactured in Goole, 80% rather than half as initially planned. [52]
Despite the lack of resignalling, [53] the purchase of new trains will still increase the capacity of the Piccadilly line, with 27 trains per hour at peak times by 2027. [3] Trains will enter service with a human operator on board. However, resignalling of the line could permit driverless operation in future. [6]
Features of the new train include: [1] [54] [55] [56] [43]
The trains are 7 metres (23 ft) longer than existing Piccadilly line trains, and are composed of nine cars instead of six. [1] The new trains consist of two driver-motor cars on each end, a key motor car in the centre, and four shorter intermediate cars with bogies placed between each motor car. This design means that the train only has ten bogies instead of the twelve on a 1973 Stock train, giving space underneath the train to install equipment such as air conditioning. Siemens said the design was inspired by articulated trams. [57]
Initially, deliveries were to begin in 2023, with entry into service in 2024. [58] By March 2021, the delivery schedule had slipped: the trains were then expected to enter service on the Piccadilly line in 2025, [2] [4] followed by improvements to stations and service levels in 2027. [3] [51] As of November 2023 [update] , testing in London will begin in summer 2024, with entry into service in 2025. [59]
Testing of the first train commenced at the Siemens Wegberg-Wildenrath Test and Validation Centre in Germany in mid-2023. [60] [59]
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a London Underground shuttle line that runs between Waterloo and Bank with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Hampshire arriving at Waterloo main line station and travelling forward to the City of London financial district. For this reason, the line has historically not operated on Sundays or public holidays, except in very limited circumstances. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the line is currently only open on weekdays. It is one of only two lines on the Underground network to run completely underground, the other being the Victoria line.
The Central line is a London Underground line that runs through central London, from Epping, Essex, in the north-east to Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip in west London. Printed in red on the Tube map, the line serves 49 stations over 46 miles (74 km), making it the longest line on the Underground. It is one of only two lines on the Underground network to cross the Greater London boundary, the other being the Metropolitan line. One of London's deep-level railways, Central line trains are smaller than those on British main lines.
The Bakerloo line is a London Underground line that runs from Harrow & Wealdstone in suburban north-west London to Elephant & Castle in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over 23.2 kilometres (14.4 mi). It runs partly on the surface and partly through deep-level tube tunnels.
The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are near tourist attractions such as Piccadilly Circus and Buckingham Palace. The District and Metropolitan lines share some sections of track with the Piccadilly line. Printed in dark blue on the Tube map, it is the sixth-busiest line on the Underground network, with nearly 218 million passenger journeys in 2019.
Baker Street is a London Underground station at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road in the City of Westminster. It is one of the original stations of the Metropolitan Railway (MR), the world's first underground railway, opened on 10 January 1863.
The London Underground 1973 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground. It was introduced into service in 1975 with the extension of the line to Hatton Cross, followed by a further extension to Heathrow Central in 1977. A total of 86 six-car trains were built.
London Underground rolling stock includes the electric multiple-unit trains used on the London Underground. These come in two sizes, smaller deep-level tube trains and larger sub-surface trains of a similar size to those on British main lines, both running on standard gauge tracks. New trains are designed for the maximum number of standing passengers and for speed of access to the cars.
The London Underground 1992 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the Central and Waterloo & City lines of the London Underground. A total of 85 eight-car trains were built for the Central line and 5 four-car trains were built for the Waterloo & City line.
The history of the London Underground began in the 19th century with the construction of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. The Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863 using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, worked with the District Railway to complete London's Circle line in 1884. Both railways expanded, the Metropolitan eventually extending as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 km) from Baker Street and the centre of London. The first deep-level tube line, the City and South London Railway, opened in 1890 with electric trains. This was followed by the Waterloo & City Railway in 1898, the Central London Railway in 1900, and the Great Northern and City Railway in 1904. The Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) was established in 1902 to fund the electrification of the District Railway and to complete and operate three tube lines, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, which opened during 1906–1907. By 1907, the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines.
Metronet Rail was an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, civils work and stations, on several London Underground lines. It was one of two infrastructure companies in a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Underground.
Tube Lines Limited, initially known as Infraco JNP, was an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, civils work and stations, of three London Underground lines.
The London Underground 1972 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the London Underground. The 1972 Stock was originally ordered to make up the shortfall in trains on the Northern line's 1959 Tube Stock fleet, but is currently used on the Bakerloo line. Following the withdrawal of the British Rail Class 483 EMUs in 2021, the 1972 Stock are now the oldest EMUs in passenger service in the United Kingdom. A total of 63 seven-car trains were built in two separate batches.
The London Underground S7 and S8 Stock, commonly referred to as S Stock, is a type of passenger train running on the London Underground's subsurface lines since 2010. Manufactured by Bombardier Transportation's Derby Litchurch Lane Works, the S Stock was ordered to replace the A60, A62, C69, C77 and D78 stock on the Metropolitan, District, Hammersmith & City, and Circle lines, which all dated from the 1960s and 1970s.
The railway infrastructure of the London Underground includes 11 lines, with 272 stations. There are two types of line on the London Underground: services that run on the sub-surface network just below the surface using larger trains, and the deep-level tube lines, that are mostly self-contained and use smaller trains. Most of the lines emerge on the surface outside the Central London area.
The Bakerloo line extension is a proposed extension of the London Underground Bakerloo line in South London from its current terminus at Elephant & Castle to Lewisham station.
The transport system now known as the London Underground began in 1863 with the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. Over the next forty years, the early sub-surface lines reached out from the urban centre of the capital into the surrounding rural margins, leading to the development of new commuter suburbs. At the turn of the nineteenth century, new technology—including electric locomotives and improvements to the tunnelling shield—enabled new companies to construct a series of "tube" lines deeper underground. Initially rivals, the tube railway companies began to co-operate in advertising and through shared branding, eventually consolidating under the single ownership of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), with lines stretching across London.
The Siemens Inspiro is a family of electric multiple unit trains designed and manufactured by Siemens Mobility since 2012 for metro systems. The product was launched on 19 September 2012 at the InnoTrans in Berlin. The first Inspiro entered service with Warsaw Metro on 6 October 2013.
Siemens Goole is a train factory located in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Siemens Mobility assessed several sites in the United Kingdom before settling on Goole with an intent to build the plant if it were successful in gaining orders for new rolling stock. After a June 2018 announcement that Siemens had won the bid to build 94 London Underground New Tube for London trains for the Piccadilly line of the London Underground, Siemens confirmed it would go ahead with building the factory, though this was then subject to further delays as other rolling stock companies objected to Siemens being given the contract.
The Four Lines Modernisation (4LM) is a series of projects by Transport for London (TfL) to modernise and upgrade the sub-surface lines of the London Underground: the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. The upgrades entail new rolling stock, new signalling and new track and drainage.
A driver's cab will be incorporated into the initial roll-out but the train design makes it possible for these to be removed, creating London's first driverless Tube train, though probably not until 2030.
with a hint to the mayor that if he placed an order for one of the new trains for the Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Central lines it would be fulfilled in the UK. Siemens controversially manufactured the £1bn-plus Thameslink train order from the Government in its native Germany.
London Underground trains won't need drivers in years to come meaning fewer frustrating strikes for commuters, according to the Transport Secretary.
But future 'big ticket' schemes including new Bakerloo line trains ... because of Transport for London's funding problems.