Transport for London has announced today that Siemens Mobility Limited will be awarded a £1.5bn to build 94 new tube trains for the Piccadilly line.

More than 700,000 passengers use the Piccadilly line each day, however, a limited fleet size and old signalling technology are restricting Transport for London to increase capacity.

This investment will support London’s growing population, which is expected to increase to 10.8 million by 2041.

22 suppliers from the UK have been identified to work with Siemens to build the trains. Additionally, 50 new apprenticeship positions could be created.

Transport for London will work with Siemens to maximise the number of Piccadilly line trains being built at the new factory in Goole, East Yorkshire, in which Siemens plan to build a new factory to build and commission new trains.

The order will see the replacement of the entire 1970s Piccadilly line trains.

From 2023, the 94 new trains, Inspiro, will be delivered to the Piccadilly line to run up to 27 trains per hour, by the end of 2026. This is an increase on the current 24 trains per hour and is equivalent to a train every 135 seconds.

Capacity, thanks to the signalling upgrade and purchase of additional trains, will be increased by more than a half and means an extra 21,000 customers will be able to board trains every hour.

The Deep Tube Upgrade Programme is aiming to replace the life-expired rolling stock and signalling. The existing Piccadilly line trains were introduced in 1975 and are now one of the oldest trains in passenger service in the UK.

The new trains will be six metres longer than the existing trains and will be air-conditioned and will have improved accessibility.

The contract award is subject to a statutory 10-day standstill period.

A separate contract is going to be awarded to a separate business, which will be announced in Mid-2020.

What did the officials say?

Mike Brown MVO, Commissioner of Transport for London, 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.’

Sabrina Soussan, CEO Siemens Mobility, 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.’

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