The first new Piccadilly line trains for 50 years are due to enter passenger service on the London Underground by the end of 2025.
The start date for the first of a fleet of 94 air-conditioned, walk-through trains was confirmed on Thursday by the chief executive of Siemens, the rail firm that is building the new rolling stock.
The new trains will be the first “deep level” Tubes in the capital to have air conditioning.
They will be much more spacious, with more headroom – and four of their nine carriages will effectively “float” on top of the rails as they will not have wheels, or train “bogies”, underneath.
All 94 trains should be in service by 2028, a year later than initially planned, after Transport for London requested a delay in order to ease its cash-flow worries.
TfL is spending about £3 billion on the Piccadilly line upgrade, which is currently £62m over budget.
It came as Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and London mayor Sadiq Khan attended the official opening of Siemens’ £200m “rail village” factory in Goole, Yorkshire, where 80 per cent of the new trains will be assembled.
Sambit Banerjee, joint chief executive and managing director of Siemens UK, told The Standard that he hoped to extend his firm’s contract with TfL to enable it to build a new fleet of Bakerloo line trains, followed by new trains for the Central line and Waterloo and City line.
TfL has yet to secure Government funding to upgrade the Bakerloo line fleet – or even to replace the signalling on the Piccadilly line to increase the frequency of the new trains to the 36 trains per hour already seen on the Victoria line.
However Mr Khan and TfL commissioner Andy Lord hope to use the landmark opening of the Goole factory to showcase to Ms Haigh how investment in the capital’s transport network helps to create thousands of jobs across the country.
Of the 94 new Piccadilly line trains, 79 will be assembled in Goole. The others will be built at Siemens’ existing factory in Vienna, Austria.
The first Vienna-built train is due in London by the end of 2024, and will undergo a year of testing – overnight, when the Tube is closed – before being integrated into the existing Piccadilly line fleet, which dates from 1973.
The first Goole-built train is due to arrive in the capital in the first three months of 2025.
Mr Banerjee said passengers on the Piccadilly line – a key route connecting King’s Cross and the West End and Heathrow airport - would soon be able to enjoy “state of the art” trains.
They will have double doors throughout to make it easier to get on and off, especially during the rush hour, and on-board CCTV to improve safety.
Until the signalling system is upgraded, they will be limited to 27 trains per hour at peak times - a modest improvement on existing frequencies of about 24 trains per hour.
Mr Banerjee told the Standard: “For passenger comfort, we and TfL have worked on several initiatives. One of the most important ones is that this is an air conditioned train. In the peak of summer or the cold of winter, Londoners can have a lot of comfort in the carriages.
“Passengers can distribute themselves across the entire train, so there is no overcrowding in one carriage. We are sure Londoners will enjoy these trains for the next 40 years.”
The Bakerloo line trains date from 1972 and are the oldest rolling stock of any rail network in the UK.
Asked how close Siemens was to securing a contract extension to build new trains for the Bakerloo line, Mr Banerjee said: “We are working very closely with TfL, and with the DfT, to ensure that the Bakerloo line options are exercised. Then we can have a continuous production in Goole.”
He said new trains for the Central line was the third of four “options” within Siemens’ existing contract with TfL – meaning that TfL has the ability to extend the Piccadilly line contract to order new trains for the Bakerloo line, followed by the Central line and finally the Waterloo and City line.
“We would love to manufacture all of them here in Goole,” Mr Banerjee said.
“If all goes to plan, ideally Bakerloo line trains should be up for production in early 2027.
“It’s the continuous production of Piccadilly [trains], and the transition from Piccadilly to Bakerloo line trains, which is so important for Goole.
“We have full trust in the Government, the DfT and in TfL that together we can achieve something great for ‘Made in Britain’ that we can showcase from Goole.”
New Piccadilly line trains: how investment in the London Underground is creating hundreds of jobs in Yorkshire pic.twitter.com/9T64ZUlT95
— Ross Lydall (@RossLydall) October 3, 2024
The Department for Transport said the Goole factory had been “made possible” by previous Government funding settlements to TfL, “giving Siemens the confidence to invest in the site”.
Ms Haigh said: “Its opening demonstrates the importance of high quality, long-term investment to pave the way for employment and growth.
“I know how vital rail manufacturing is to our economy, which is why we will not sit on our hands when it comes to supporting it. For too long, the cycle of boom-and-bust has held back this sector.
“That’s why I am determined to put an end to the stop-start approach to investment and provide the industry with the certainty it needs to deliver a railway that is fit for the future.”
Mr Khan said the Goole factory showed that “where London succeeds, the whole country succeeds”. The factory will eventually employ 700 people, and provide work for a further 2,500 via the supply chain.
The mayor said: “This train manufacturing facility in Goole is a fantastic example of the expertise we don’t have, and how investment in London benefits the whole country.”
TfL commissioner Andy Lord, who was also due to attend Thursday’s opening, said: "The new Piccadilly line trains that are being assembled in Goole will change the experience of millions of Tube customers every year.
“We are working with Siemens, the Mayor of London and the Government to ensure that the benefits felt from this project will continue through funding for new Bakerloo line trains to replace the existing fleet, which at more than 50 years old is the oldest operating in daily passenger service anywhere in the UK.
“We look forward to welcoming the first new Piccadilly line test train to London later this year and for customers to start using them when they come into service from next year."
