22.01.19
Siemens Deep Tube: Keeping London moving
Source: RTM Dec/Jan 19
Paul Baines, sales director for rolling stock at Siemens Mobility Ltd, expands on the many benefits of the £1.5bn Deep Tube rolling stock contract award.
In November, Siemens Mobility Ltd was awarded a £1.5bn contract by London Underground, a subsidiary of TfL, to design and build 94 new-generation Tube trains for the Piccadilly Line. This was a landmark achievement for the business, cementing our status as one of the UK’s leading suppliers of technologically-advanced trains for intercity travel.
Siemens’ new world-class Tube trains will replace the current ones operating on the network, which are some of the oldest trains in service on the Underground and increasingly unreliable and expensive to maintain. From 2023, new spacious ‘Inspiro London’ trains will be delivered for testing on the Piccadilly Line, with the first of these trains due to start serving passengers in 2024.
These new trains will significantly improve journeys on the Underground for the 700,000 passengers travelling on the Piccadilly Line every day, specifically through increased reliability and frequency of trains during peak times – with the number of trains per hour rising from 24 to 27 by the end of 2026. That means the service will deliver a train every 135 seconds at the busiest times, holding transformative potential for tackling crowding on the line as London’s population continues to rise.
The benefits of the ‘Inspiro London’ train do not stop there, though. We’ve spent considerable time understanding what passengers want from the travel experience and have put these needs at the heart of our thinking behind the trains’ design.
With wider doors and longer, fully air-conditioned walkthrough carriages, our new trains will enhance the passenger experience considerably, making journeys more comfortable for decades to come. As well as offering improved accessibility, they’ll be equipped with in-train information systems, which will help all passengers plan their onward journey more easily.
In terms of aesthetics, the new trains will feature a heritage design in line with London Underground’s global iconic status. They are also lighter, more energy efficient, and significantly more technologically advanced than current trains. All these elements will play a crucial role in supporting TfL to achieve its ambitions for the modernisation of the Deep Tube lines.
Whilst the initial order is for 94 trains, the contract has been awarded with the expectation that Siemens Mobility will build trains for four of the Deep Tube lines – Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City. Choosing Siemens to create a single train design for all these lines will allow TfL to maximise cost savings through greater standardisation of train operations, staff training, equipment, spares, and maintenance.
The contract award marks a huge milestone in our continued work to keep London moving. We worked with TfL to resignal the Victoria Line so trains can run every 100 seconds, and with Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway to enable our Thameslink trains to run every two to three minutes at the busiest times.
We look forward to continuing our partnership with TfL to deliver more best-in-class experiences for passengers, as well as maximising the benefits this contract will deliver to UK plc, particularly in terms of job creation and opportunities for the supply chain.
Siemens already has a strong presence in the UK, having been in operation here for over 170 years. In the past year, we have continued to grow and currently employ around 15,000 people across the UK, with 15 manufacturing sites and multiple other facilities country-wide. This contract marks a significant milestone in Siemens’ journey to expand that presence and increase our investment in the communities in which we operate.
Our new rail manufacturing facility in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire – which we announced plans to build in early 2018 and where a proportion of the trains will be made – will lead to the creation of up to 700 direct jobs (and another 250 in the construction phase), with a further 1,700 potential UK supply chain roles.
The ideal partner
This contract is the culmination of over seven years of hard work, with the final design of the Inspiro platform using the very best of Siemens Mobility’s global metros expertise, combined with a deep understanding of the challenges faced on London’s Underground system.
It is these factors, along with our commitment to the UK, that makes Siemens Mobility Ltd an ideal partner for TfL. We are very much looking forward to continuing to help it achieve its ambitions for the ongoing modernisation of the capital’s transport network.
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