Passengers on one of London’s busiest Tube lines are set for a serious upgrade as £2.9 billion of improvements have been made by TfL. The new Piccadilly line trains are set to come into operation in 2026, and travellers will enjoy air conditioning when commuting underground. Transport for London announced today that these new trains will begin transporting passengers in the second half of 2026, promising to “transform journeys for millions of customers”.
The new trains offer 10% more capacity than existing trains and will also have air conditioning for greater comfort. They will also have new CCTV cameras, wider double doorways for easier boarding and real-time digital displays. The new trains are also more energy efficient as they are lighter, with TfL reporting that they consume 20% less energy than existing trains. TfL previously reported that the upgrades are costing a sum of £2.9 billion, with 86 existing trains to be replaced with 94 new ones.
Around 158 million trips are made on the Piccadilly line every year, accounting for 10% of the London Underground’s annual operations. The current trains were first brought into operation in 1975.
Stuart Harvey, TfL’s chief capital officer, said: ”We’re proud and excited that these innovative new trains on the Piccadilly line will have a transformative effect for London. This hugely complex project will boost capacity and make journeys more accessible and more comfortable for millions of people. This is an ambitious project with new 21st-century trains providing engineering challenges in both building and introduction into service on a 20th-century railway, and it is critical that we ensure that safety comes first and that the trains are in top condition when they begin to service London.
“It will obviously be disappointing for customers that they will have to wait a bit longer for the new trains, and I regret that. But I would like to assure Londoners and visitors to our city that we are working extremely closely with Siemens to ensure that the new trains can be introduced as soon as possible in the second half of next year.”
TfL has called these trains the most complex to be introduced to the capital’s underground rail network. The ambitious project has seen some challenges, such as “introducing these new trains onto one of the deepest and longest lines on TfL’s network, while ensuring they are fully integrated with London Underground infrastructure”.
The programme of testing the interactions with the infrastructure and systems has been rescheduled to a later date than originally anticipated because of unforeseen challenges.
“Once testing starts, enough time is needed to fully test the complex interactions between the new train and some of the oldest infrastructure on the Tube to ensure the trains are safe and reliable for passengers,” TfL says. “Given the complexity of introducing this novel train into a railway that is more than one hundred years old and that is shared with other trains at some locations, it is expected that there will need to be time to address any issues identified.”