Transport for London has announced that the first milestone in its vital modernisation programme of the next four London Underground lines has been met. Installation of new signalling equipment has begun on track between Edgware Road and Hammersmith – the first of a complete overhaul of the signalling and control systems across the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines.
The new signalling will allow London Underground to run more trains, more quickly, providing a 33% increase in capacity across the four lines by the early 2020s.
The new signalling is being provided by Thales and is similar to the systems now being used on the Jubilee and Northern lines, where performance and reliability have improved and journey times have been cut.
The new signalling system will be installed in sections across the four lines between now and 2021 with the main benefits being delivered by 2022, when the frequency of trains running during peak periods will increase to 32 trains per hour in central London – a train every two minutes – with frequency increases at other times as well. Once these four lines have been completed, LU will then move on to introducing new trains and control systems for the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo, and Waterloo & City lines.
The Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines together make up nearly 40% of the network and include the oldest part of the network built in 1863.
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