When the Piccadilly line’s new trains start carrying passengers later next year, some of the replaced trains will be used to keep the ageing Bakerloo line running.
Bakerloo line train at Lambeth North tube station (c) ianVisits
The new trains are scheduled to enter service in the second half of next year. As they are progressively introduced into the fleet, the older 1973 stock trains will be phased out. To keep the remaining old Piccadilly line trains in service while waiting to be removed, the decommissioned trains will be stripped down for spare parts and used to make repairs on the Piccadilly line.
However, some of the spare parts taken from the scrapped Piccadilly line trains will also be compatible with the Bakerloo line trains, and they will also be used to keep that fleet running as well.
The Bakerloo line trains are now the oldest trains in regular passenger service in the United Kingdom, and the spare parts from the scrapped Piccadilly line might keep them in service for a few more years.
It’s not possible for the Piccadilly line trains to be used on the Bakerloo line due to interoperability issues. However, the recovered critical spares will support the Bakerloo’s operation and maintenance activities.
Obviously, taking scrapped parts from already very old trains to keep even older trains running is hardly ideal, but at least it keeps the Bakerloo line trains in service until they can be replaced. The ambition, subject to securing the necessary funding, is to extend the existing Siemens contract for building the Piccadilly line trains to also replace the Bakerloo line trains.
But that will take a few years at least.
In the meantime, the Bakerloo trains will limp on, and in a couple of years, they will start to include bits of old Piccadilly line trains as well.
