First new Piccadilly line test train arrives in London, gets graffitied within hours
The first of London’s new Piccadilly line trains has arrived in the UK capital, in what Mayor Sadiq Khan called “an exciting moment” for the city. However, not everything has gone smoothly. One of the new trains was covered in graffiti on its way to a depot just hours after arriving in the UK from Germany. Essentially, it was informally inaugurated into London life before it had even taken its first test run.
Transport for London (TfL) has welcomed the first of the new Piccadilly line trains to the capital, ahead of a programme of intensive testing before the new trains start entering service by the end of 2025. The test train is the first of 94 new trains that are being built for TfL by Siemens Mobility to replace the existing fleet, which is nearly 50 years old. They are part of a 2.9-billion-pound (€3.35bn) modernisation programme of the London network.
Around eighty per cent of the new trains will be built at Siemens Mobility’s new factory in Goole, East Yorkshire, which was officially opened earlier this month. However, the test train that arrived earlier this week was built in Siemens Mobility’s factory in Vienna, Austria, and has spent the last year on the test track in Wildenrath in Germany.
From there, it made its 400-mile journey to London. It will now undergo a period of commissioning activities before integration testing begins to ensure it is compatible with existing infrastructure on the Piccadilly line. Testing will initially take place overnight during engineering hours and some planned closures, with test trains running during the day in gaps between normal services as the date of their introduction gets closer.
Piccadilly line informally inaugurated
“It’s an exciting moment for London as testing begins on the new Piccadilly line trains,” said Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. “These state-of-the-art trains – most of which will be manufactured here in the UK – will be more spacious, equipped with CCTV cameras and, for the first time ever in a Deep Tube train, air-conditioned, to make everyone’s journeys more comfortable.
“These new trains are just one example of the work we’re doing to continue delivering the world-class transport network Londoners deserve, building a better, greener London for everyone.”
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. According to the BBC, the train was vandalised on its way to a depot in west London just hours after arriving from Germany on Monday morning. The train is thought to have been tagged at about 06:45 BST in the Latchmere Junction area of south-west London. It has since been cleaned, TfL told the British broadcaster.
Smoother ride but more delays
The new Piccadilly line trains will likely improve the everyday passenger experience along the line. The nine-carriage trains will increase capacity by around 10 per cent and feature walk-through, air-conditioned carriages, and wider all-double doorways to help customers get on and off more easily. The trains are also lighter than existing designs, which means they are more energy efficient and provide a smoother ride, consuming twenty per cent less energy.
All of the new Piccadilly line trains are expected to be in service by the end of 2027, when the frequency of trains will increase from the current twenty-four trains per hour to twenty-seven trains per hour. However, the scale of the Piccadilly Line Upgrade, which is taking place on one of London’s deepest Tube lines with some of the oldest track and signalling infrastructure, means that a series of closures are ongoing.
Planned closures include 19-20 October, when there will be no Piccadilly line services running between Acton Town and Rayners Lane; 23-24 November, when there will be no trains between King’s Cross St Pancras and Hammersmith; 30 November to 1 December, when services will stop between King’s Cross St Pancras and Cockfosters; and 7-8 December, when the Piccadilly line won’t be running between Acton Town and Rayners Lane.
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