London’s transport chief has been forced to deny that the £3 billion fleet of new Piccadilly line trains are having to be rebuilt because they don’t fit in Tube tunnels.
But Andy Lord, the Transport for London commissioner, admitted the delayed introduction of the “transformational” new trains was proving “challenging” and was “extremely complicated” to fix.
The Standard exclusively revealed last month that the arrival of the first of the 94 new trains - being built by Siemens for London Underground - had been delayed by up to a year.
They will replace worn-out trains that date to 1973 and will be the first on the Tube’s deep-level lines to have walk-through carriages and air conditioning.
The vast majority of the new fleet is being assembled at the new Siemens factory in Goole, Yorkshire, that was visited by Mr Lord and Sir Sadiq last year.
The first new train had been due to enter passenger service by the end of 2025. But due to problems discovered at the Piccadilly line depot in Northfields, the new trains are now not due until the “second half of 2026”.
Appearing alongside mayor Sir Sadiq Khan at a meeting of the London Assembly, Mr Lord was asked by Keith Prince, transport spokesman for the City Hall Conservatives, to explain what “technical issues” had delayed the introduction of the new trains.
Mr Prince said he had “heard a lot of really weird rumours” about the problems with the trains – and asked if the trains didn’t fit in the Tube tunnels.
Mr Lord said: “The new Piccadilly line trains are the first of their type for the ‘deep Tube’. They’re extremely complex.
“Siemens are a world leader in train manufacture and design… but there have been a few challenges.
“The first train was slightly late [arriving] in London last summer. Since it arrived, a number of issues have been discovered as part of testing that we have been undertaking in the depot.
“That has meant that Siemens have had to do some further design work.”
Mr Lord said testing on Underground tracks was likely to begin “within a short number of weeks”, with full “integration testing” happening over the winter and into 2026.
“At the minute, we have reasonable confidence that we will be introducing the first train into service in the second half of next year,” Mr Lord said.
“I’m sorry it’s not going to be as early as we thought. The train is going to be transformational for Piccadilly line users – walk-through, air cooled, live customer information.
“But it’s extremely complex and we need to make sure it is introduced both safely and reliably.”
Mr Prince pressed the TfL commissioner on whether there was a “physical issue” with the design of the new trains.
“It’s extremely complicated,” Mr Lord replied. “There are some issues that between Siemens and ourselves need resolving. Some of these issues will require modification to the train.”
He offered to provide more information to Mr Prince outside the City Hall chamber. Asked if the train “doesn’t fit in the tunnels”, Mr Lord said: “No, that is not the case.”
Mr Prince said: “I’m a bit concerned you are not able to share publicly what is wrong.”
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