Thales Signalling on London Underground
Transport for London (TfL) have announced that the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines of the London Underground have begun modernisation works as part of a large scale modernisation programme on the whole London Underground network.
New signalling equipment is being installed on tracks between Edgware Road and Hammersmith. The signalling, provided by Thales, is similar to the signalling systems already installed on the Jubilee and Northern Lines, and have already improved capacity and reliability.
The new signalling on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines will deliver a 33% increase in capacity on those lines by the early 2020s by enabling a peak frequency of 32 trains per hour in central London. Customers are already enjoying improvements made on these lines as TfL completes the roll out of new air-conditioned trains on the network this year.
The lines will also benefit from a new train control system which will begin operating in 2021, with further roll out and improvements to take place until 2021. Following the overhaul of the signalling system on these four lines, London Underground will then introduce the new train control system for the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo, and Waterloo & City lines.
The works will create and sustain 1,100 jobs and 60 apprenticeships in London and across the UK.
Andrew Pollins, Managing Director of London Underground, said:
“This is a major step in delivering this vital upgrade for millions of our customers. The signalling system on these lines is some of the oldest in use anywhere in the world, with parts of it dating back to the 1930s. The use of this newer, more sophisticated signalling system will mean more frequent, more reliable and less crowded journeys and will help us meet rapidly growing customer demand.”
Alistair McPhee, Vice President of the Ground Transportation Systems business at Thales, said:
“The achievement of this major milestone on the Four Lines Modernisation project is a great testament to the continuing success of our ‘One Team’ approach – Thales and London Underground delivering a better service to passengers together. Getting installation underway takes us another step forward on our journey to provide the capacity on the network that London needs”.
