Last day in service for the C-stock as modern air-conditioned trains introduced
4 Jun 2014 09:47 AM
After 40 years of service, old trains on the Edgware
Road to Wimbledon branch bow out
Brand new walk through air-conditioned trains now
serving the branch
One
of the Tube’s oldest trains bowed out of the commuter run yesterday
(Tuesday 3 June) when the last of the old C-stock trains on the Edgware Road to
Wimbledon branch took commuters to and from work for the final time.
The
C-stock trains have operated on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and on
the District line between Edgware Road and Wimbledon for over 40 years, but
have become increasingly unreliable and costly to maintain as time has gone
on.
Since 2010, new modern walk through air-conditioned
trains have been introduced to the Metropolitan, Hammersmith and City and
Circle lines - bringing increased capacity and more pleasant and reliable
journeys to millions of passengers.
The
new trains are more accessible, spacious, better audio and visual information
systems, CCTV and an energy efficient braking system.
Phil Hufton, LU’s Chief Operating Officer,
said: “These old trains have been great servants to the millions of
people who have used the branch over the years. But after more than 40
years in service, it is now time for the next generation of trains that
are walk through, air conditioned and more accessible to transport commuters
for the next 40 years. We are carrying more passengers today than ever
before, with more than 1.265 billion journeys made in the last year. Much
work has already been done with the completion of the Victoria and Jubilee
lines upgrades, which have provided increased reliability and capacity, and the
Northern line modernisation will be completed later this year. However we need
to continue with investing and modernising the network to meet the growing
demand of a rapidly increasing population. There is still much to do
but, with each improvement that we are making, we are building a Tube network
truly fit for the future.”
In
total, 191 trains are being introduced on the Circle, District, Hammersmith
& City and Metropolitan lines, which together represent 40 per cent of the
Tube network.
The
District line is the last of the four sub-surface lines to have the new trains
introduced, starting with the Wimbledon to Edgware Road branch, which commenced
earlier this year.
The
full fleet will be in place in 2016. The new trains will be complemented by a
brand new signalling system, which will boost capacity and make journeys faster
and even more reliable.
The
new trains are part of a huge programme of modernisation being carried out by
London Underground, with major stations, trains, track and signalling being
modernised or replaced to provide more capacity for a growing city. LU's
plans to improve customer service will also see the public areas of stations
– ticket halls, ticket gates and platforms – become personalised
customer service centres, replicating the standards of service offered during
the London 2012 Games.
There will be a heritage
run of the C-stock train on Sunday 29th June. This is a ticketed event with
money being raised for The Railway Children charity
- The
final C-stock service left Wimbledon at 09:05hrs this morning
- As
well as air conditioning, the new trains also have CCTV coverage in each
carriage and improved accessibility
- The
SSR lines carry one third of the Underground’s passengers and covers
300km of track
- The
upgrade of the Sub-Surface Railway will deliver substantial increases in
capacity: 65 per cent on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines; 24 per
cent on the District line; and 27 per cent on the Metropolitan
line
- The
sub-surface fleet is being built by Bombardier Transportation in Derby who will
deliver a total of 191 trains