Ross Lydall London Underground Depot In Acton

Evening Standard

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00:00 I'm in London Underground's depot in Acton where the first of a fleet of Central Line trains

00:06 is about to undergo a 500 million pounds refurbishment. We're here looking at the

00:12 Central Line Improvement Programme which is the groundbreaking work that London Underground is

00:17 doing, TfL is doing to refurbish the Central Line trains. Central Line trains are some of the most

00:22 unreliable on the network, some 10% have to be taken out on any given day for interim repairs.

00:29 So this programme is about increasing capacity, improving the traction, putting in wheelchair bays

00:36 and LED lighting, CCTV and dot matrix displays so that people who are hard of hearing can also

00:45 benefit from knowing where they are and wayfinding. It'll make a big difference to not just the

00:51 interior experience of sitting in the cabin but also the reliability of the service as well.

00:57 These trains have new motors which means that they will save energy, they'll draw less current which

01:03 obviously is great for carbon saving but it also means with the new computer technology that we'll

01:08 be able to run a much more reliable service as well on the Central Line. And do you know anything

01:13 about the new Moké seat pattern? Have you had a role in naming that or choosing that? I personally

01:19 I have not had a role but the name is very apt, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you the name

01:24 right now but you know it, but the name is very apt for the Central Line and I think people will

01:30 be excited to see it and I think it's a great nod to the history of this line which was the second

01:35 tube line, no it wasn't, it was the third tube line that was built in London. The Central Line

01:40 trains were first introduced in 1992 so most are about 30 years old and this refurbishment should

01:47 give them an extra 15 to 20 years of service. So the trains come in a really poor condition,

01:53 they're really unreliable and they've been out there for 30 years so they really are in a real

01:58 state of repair. So the actual floor itself has holes in and needs to be welded and made structurally

02:06 sound so it can continue along in service. In terms of the condition of the train itself, they've had

02:12 lots of wear and tear and I say the reliability has really taken a hit from this so what we're

02:19 trying to do is upgrade all those systems, bring them up to this modern standard to make sure

02:23 they're more reliable, we can keep these trains in for service for longer and keep the trains out

02:28 there and serve the customers as best we can. So we've got two CCTV cameras in each of the

02:35 each of the carriages here so 16 CCTV cameras across the train, Central Line doesn't currently

02:40 have those on board. We also have new LED lighting so you've got the lights in the centre and two in

02:48 the advert area, these are more energy efficient and carbon reducing there. In terms of the other

02:55 new features we've got in here, there's a brand new train computer so we've got modules throughout

03:00 the train that connect up to all the systems. The old system was built on kind of 80s technology

03:06 and very binary in its assessments. These new computers now provide you with so much more

03:14 high-tech diagnostics and pre-emptive diagnostics that we can feed back to the train depot and train

03:20 maintainers to make sure we can keep trains in service as long as possible. We are also bringing

03:27 into the system new visual displays, so these are part of the passenger information system

03:33 to go alongside with the audio announcements. There'll be these new displays that will provide

03:39 you information of where we are on the line and where our destination is going to as well.

03:44 So we're stripping the trains down to their bare bones and introducing rail vehicle accessibility

03:51 so to improve the access for our customers, new wheelchair bays, flooring, grab poles,

03:57 but also we are re-tractioning our train system to improve its reliability. So we're putting a

04:04 whole new traction system, converting it from a DC traction to an AC traction motor system,

04:11 something that we've never done before to improve our reliability. And we're also doing safety

04:17 improvements by putting in LED lighting to increase the ambience and the brightness within

04:23 the carriage, but also including installing CCTV to help end violence against women and girls

04:32 on our network as part of the policy systems with that. We're also putting in a new passenger

04:38 information system that will have visual displays and audio announcements for our passengers

04:45 and we're addressing corrosion problems. We're overhauling our trains, our motors, our wheel

04:54 sets and our door motors and systems and installing a new train computer within the system. So

05:04 multiple systems, so basically bringing this train back to its bare bones and enhancing and

05:11 overhauling and maintaining at the same time. In terms of other new systems and overhauled systems,

05:18 we're overhauling a lot of doors to bring it up to a higher standard so a lot of the moving parts

05:24 of the doors make them more reliable. You know, overhaul the engine, replace the rubber seals

05:31 and the linear shafts and moving parts of the train. We also got the video recorder for the

05:36 CCTV, so this is where the hard drive and the data is stored within the train.

05:41 We also have a black box for the new train computer. This has been tested to withstand

05:49 all conditions and would survive if there was any incidents or issues on the train itself.

05:56 The technology, this 1992, this train fleet was introduced into the system and it was early

06:04 technologies in those days and they're not as reliable as what newer systems are now. So we're

06:12 putting in new systems to address that and to increase our reliability on the network. We've

06:19 got 125 footers currently. We started off with six and we've grown over the years. We provide training

06:29 and really helping the local economy here and we'll be able to retain that knowledge within

06:39 the TfL network and deploy these highly skilled people onto different programs and projects in

06:46 the future. The first of these refurbished trains is due to enter service in about two weeks time.

06:54 There will be new seats and importantly CCTV cameras on the central line for the first time

06:59 to improve safety for passengers and especially women and girls. We're overhauling the seats and

07:07 we're introducing a new moquette, a new design moquette onto the trains which will clearly

07:15 demarcate where the priority seating is for our customers and passengers. So we've got brand new

07:23 wheelchair bays that have been introduced as part of the improvement plan. So what we've done is

07:28 taken out the seats within this area, redistributed all the equipment underneath there, bar the door

07:35 engine and then this will allow a space which wheelchair users, a couple of wheelchair users,

07:42 can reside within here. We have two of these across the train that we have. We also have got the

07:50 passenger emergency alarm as well so that's now an accessible area so if there is an emergency or an

07:58 incident all users of the train can access those alarms as opposed to them being up high on the

08:05 door pillar area. Now Londoners don't have long to wait to see the first of these refurbished trains.

08:11 The first should enter service in a couple of weeks at the end of November, however it will

08:16 take until 2029 until the entire fleet is refurbished. Happening around the same time

08:22 there should be new trains on the Piccadilly line, however if you're relying on a new

08:27 train on the Bakerloo line there's no end date in sight for that.

08:32 [no audio]

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