Bombardier Transportation has been awarded the major contract for the Sub Surface Railway automatic train control signalling upgrade for London Underground.
The contract, valued at approximately £354 million, is a part of London Underground’s SSR Upgrade Programme.
Bombardier will provide the proven CITYFLO 650 ATC system, its innovative communication-based train control technology, similar to that running successfully on the Metro de Madrid in Spain.
The full scope of the contract is for the signalling renewal and provision of an ATC system for the four sub-surface lines (Metropolitan, District, Circle, Hammersmith & City) of the London Underground network.
Carrying 1.3 million passengers a day, the lines comprise 40% of the network and carry 25% of the total ridership.
Bombardier will equip the 310km of track line (40km in tunnels), 113 stations, 191 trainsets, 49 engineering trains and six heritage trains by 2018, followed by a two-year warranty period.
The main project office will be in London, with Bombardier sites in Bangkok, Helsinki, Madrid, Pittsburgh, Plymouth, Derby and Reading providing much of the product supply and associated engineering works.
Bombardier will equip the existing and new SSR vehicles in line with the new contract.
André Navarri, President and Chief Operating Officer, Bombardier Transportation, commented:
“Bombardier’s groundbreaking CBTC technology is installed globally on 13 lines and is proven to significantly increase capacity and quality of service for our customers.
“We are very pleased to be awarded this new contract by London Underground and look forward to working together on this exciting project to improve the transport network for hundreds of thousands of passengers.”
Anders Lindberg, President Bombardier Rail Control Solutions stated:
“As well as being an important contract for Bombardier in the UK signalling market, this is further testimony to the strength of our innovative CITYFLO 650 system and our reputation for system delivery.
“We have supplied CITYFLO solutions around the world and are very proud to now be introducing our pioneering technology in the UK.”
CITYFLO 650 is a highly proven Bombardier ATC solution operating successfully around the world on 13 lines in North America, Europe and Asia.
It is a moving block, CBTC system utilising modern radio-based wide area networks to communicate between the control centre and the train.
In addition to the possibility to be installed without interruption to service and to tight timelines, it can provide interoperability with legacy train control systems and can be adapted to accommodate country requirements.
This advanced solution leads to improved safety, higher capacity and reliability, shorter headways between trains and reduced maintenance costs.
