TfL releases timetable for oldest tube lines to receive newest signalling

Long-suffering commuters on some of the London Underground’s most extensive and complex lines were given at least a timetable for reprieve on Friday, with Transport for London confirming multiple test trains were running on the brand new signalling system on the subsurface routes for the first time.

The local government body said the new computer-based signalling and control system, supplied by Thales, would allow trains to run closer together, meaning a more frequent service, shorter waiting times and a massive boost in capacity for the subsurface lines.

Those lines - the Circle, District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines - make up 40% of the Tube’s network, and are older, being buried in trenches just below street level.

They differ from the deep-level lines - the Piccadilly, Victoria, Jubilee, Northern, Central and Waterloo & City lines - in that they share track with each other in various sections, making signalling and automatic train operation a much more complex task.

“This is a fantastic step forward in the vital programme to modernise nearly half of the Tube network. The new signalling system will provide our customers with more frequent trains and quicker journeys, as well as improving reliability and improving customer information,” said London Underground’s managing director Mark Wild.

“We are making improvements for our customers all over the network and this programme represents a hugely significant part of that work.”

Customers would start to benefit from the improvements from as early as next year, when the first section of the network to use the new signalling system goes live, TfL said.

The system would ensure “greater reliability” by reducing the number of signalling problems on sections of the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines next year, and would greatly improve the accuracy of real-time customer information on those lines.

Services would begin to increase in frequency from 2021, when more of the network is operating the new system, and all four lines would be using the system by 2023.

Further testing weekends would take place in the coming months as the system was progressively installed across more of the network, the local government body said.

The capacity increase - up to 33% across all four lines - would improve the whole sub-surface network, TfL said, and would also mean Night Tube services could be introduced on the subsurface lines in the future.

Testing took place between Hammersmith and Latimer Road, featuring three newly-enabled S stock trains.

TfL said the testing involved using the new signalling system to manage the distance between trains.

It said the modern ‘S stock’ trains that run on all four lines were currently having new equipment installed, with 30 already fitted out by Bombardier.

“This is a significant milestone for us to achieve on this critical upgrade for London,” said Shaun Jones, vice-president of transport at Thales UK.

“We have demonstrated that our state-of-the-art radio communications technology will deliver better, more reliable journeys on 40 per cent of the network, creating a world-class transport system for our capital city.”

The next testing weekend would be in December, with installation work continuing throughout the year.