Introducing new trains on the London Underground is always a challenge – and particularly so on the immensely space-constrained deep tube lines – the Bakerloo, Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Waterloo & City Lines. For train builders, ther is unlikely to be an established metro train platform which can be adapted, meaning a virtually bespoke approach is needed.
Siemens, which is building 94 nine-car Inspiro trains for the Piccadilly Line (around 50% of which will be built at its new facility in Goole) is no exception. Construction is now under way, the culmination of a long partnership with Transport for London (TfL) to ensure the new generation of trains meets modern requirements. They are costing £1.5 billion, and it is hoped that if successful, more could be ordered for the Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City lines.
The existing Piccadilly Line trains are the 1973 stock built between 1974 and 1977 by Metro-Cammell. At just 2.63 metres wide and 2.88 metres tall, they squeeze as much space as possible from a necessarily tight loading gauge.
Siemens Director of Major Programmes Dave Hooper tells Modern Railways the new trains are the result of a le…
