TfL has released images of its new Piccadilly Line trains, which are set to enter service in 2025.
The first of the 94 trains has arrived at the Siemens Mobility Test and Validation Centre in Germany for testing, having travelled from the production line in Vienna at the end of July.
The nine-carriage train will undergo “rigorous tests” including acceleration and braking functionality, noise and vibration trials and testing of onboard equipment.
The new trains, which will replace the existing fleet dating from the 1970s, will increase capacity by around 10 per cent and feature walk-through, air-conditioned carriages and improved accessibility.
Additionally, the trains are set to be more energy efficient owing to a significantly lighter design, which Siemens says “requires fewer bogies (the structure containing the wheels, motors and suspension to support and power the train)”.
Around half of the new trains will be assembled at Siemens Mobility’s new site in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, with the site currently near completion. Production is set to begin from early 2024, with up to £200 million invested in the train manufacturing facility.
Stuart Harvey, TfL’s chief capital officer, outlined that this project will be followed by similar work on the Bakerloo line, with the replacement of the currently operating 51-year-old trains. TfL will then introduce new signalling “across the Deep Tube lines [Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City lines] to realise the full benefits of the new trains”.
Harvey adds, however, that these works will not be possible “without continued capital investment from the Government from April 2024,” and says that TfL will continue to work with the Government “to make [London] an even better, greener, safer and more successful place for everyone”.