01.05.06
New trains pave way for Jubilee line signalling upgrade
Source: Rail Technology Magazine April/May 2006
Tube Lines, the company rebuilding the London Underground’s busiest lines, has further enhanced the train fleet on the Jubilee line by adding four new trains to it.
The additional trains are needed to enable Tube Lines to temporarily take trains out of service to fit them with new specialist equipment whilst continuing to allow London Underground to run a full service on the line. The specialist equipment is required in order to make a new signalling equipment work. Tube Lines is investing £600 million to install new systems on the Jubilee and Northern lines to deliver a substantial improvements to each line’s capability. Once delivered, the technology should allow trains to run more frequently and at increased speeds, leading to more reliable, safer and faster services. The Jubilee line is being upgraded in 2009 but work to test and install the new system is already well underway.
The new signalling system uses computers and antennae on trains to communicate with cables laid on the track, giving precise details about each train’s location and speed. These connect with control centres for each line, from where all trains will be run. The technology, Alcatel’s SelTrac® S40, was chosen because it is tried and tested on urban railways around the world, including Vancouver, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and the London Docklands Light Railway, although none present such a challenging environment as the London Underground.
Cabling is already being laid on the Jubilee line track and trains can now be fitted with computers and antennae. Once the equipment has been installed, rigorous tests will be conducted, including static checks, runs at the special test facility in Highgate and then on the actual Underground network at night when the line is closed.
Senior Project Manager at Tube Lines, Siv Bhamra, who is overseeing the improvements to the Jubilee and Northern lines, said, “The lengthening of the trains gave passengers much more space but the signalling upgrade will offer further improvements. Not only will it increase capacity, but it will mean faster trains and fewer delays. It’s a vital part of the transport package for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games and is running up to schedule. We are confident that Londoners and visitors to the Games will benefit from the timely completion of the improvements.”
The trains, which are each seven carriages long, were built by Alstom in Barcelona, alongside the 59 new carriages which were added to existing trains over Christmas.
Eric Prescott, Alstom Transport UK Managing Director, said, “This has been an excellent example of Alstom working in close partnership with our customer, Tube Lines, and others to deliver additional capacity for the travelling public in London. We have successfully combined the expertise and resources of Alstom Transport in the UK, and elsewhere within Europe, to deliver an excellent product on time and within budget. We are now focused firmly on supporting the customer on both the Jubilee and Northern Line fleets to ensure they meet expected levels of reliability and availability.”
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