THE FIRST of 94 Siemens Inspiro Deep Tube trains built for Transport for London has moved to Wildenrath, Germany, for testing. The nine-car train was completed at the end of July in Vienna, Austria, before being moved by rail to the Germany test facility.
TfL has 94 trains ordered for the Piccadilly line in a £1.5 billion deal, which includes an associated fleet services agreement covering the supply of spares and whole life technical support.
The new trains feature articulated bogies and walk-through cars, and are the first Deep Tube trains in London to be fitted with air-conditioning. They also offer a 10% capacity increase on the existing Piccadilly line fleet.
About half of the new trains will be built in Vienna, Austria, with the remaining trains assembled at Siemens’ new facility in Goole, although the car bodies will continue to be manufactured in Vienna.
Siemens hopes to deliver further trains for the other Deep Tube lines on the London Underground network – Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City.
When the initial Deep Tube order was planned, 250 trains were to be ordered for the four lines. A Siemens spokesperson told Railways Illustrated that the next expected order would be for the replacement Bakerloo line trains, with the existing Bakerloo trains currently the oldest fleet on the network, dating from 1973.
The spokesperson also said that all of the trains built in Vienna will be sent to Wildenrath for testing before being moved by rail to London. They also confirmed that testing of the UK-built trains will take place in this country before they enter traffic, but didn’t confirm if this would take place at
