The first new Piccadilly line train has arrived in the capital before the beginning of a comprehensive testing programme which will lead to the eventual roll out of all 94 nine-car trains which are scheduled to enter service by the end of 2025.
Constructed for TfL by Siemens Mobility as part of the Piccadilly Line Upgrade, the new trains will replace the current fleet which have been in service for nearly half a century.
Before these trains can enter service a series of closures to carry out crucial upgrades to tracks and platforms, to ensure the new trains can fit and are compatible with some of the oldest infrastructure on one of London‘s deepest underground Lines.
This will boost the existing capacity by about 10%, and revolutionize travel for countless passengers on one of London Underground’s most used lines.
The prototype train that has recently arrived in London was assembled at Siemens Mobility’s Vienna facility and has undergone a year of trials on the Wildenrath test track in Germany.
Initial tests of this new train on the Piccadilly Line will occur overnight during engineering hours and planned line closures.
Once this is complete the train will be allowed to run empty during the day alongside regular passenger services, before more new trains arrive on the network and undergo the same trials
The entire fleet of new Piccadilly line trains are predicted to be operational by the end of 2027.
These trains are also helping to bolster the British economy and its manufacturing capabilities by providing jobs to residents of East Yorkshire where 80% of the fleet is being constructed at Siemens Mobility’s new factory in Goole.
“It’s an exciting moment for London as testing begins on the new Piccadilly line trains.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
Responses
The Bakerloo Line should also have new tube trains to replace its existing 1972 Stock that is aging and needs replacing in few years time. But it’s nice to see the Piccadilly Line getting new tube trains to replace the 1973 Stock.
Get it right!Piccadilly Line trains are nowhere near that old. They are newer than the Victoria Line stock. Check the archives.
What a waste of money for all tax payers and train users, and why are they being built in Europe instead of the uk? I think you are just trying to justify closing the car park for all Piccadilly line users at Cockfosters (at the end of the Piccadilly line) to house 1500 people in new flats. No other infrastructure has been put in place for this and it is outrageous that you think that this is ok to do, when the plans were shelved previously because the plan of building these flats was so unpopular by all local people and everyone In Hertfordshire who uses that car park to travel to work in central London, the city, west London and Canary Wharf. How will they get to work? You are destroying peoples ability to commute and use public transport rather than improving it.
Very happy and the new trains at hounslow