Piccadilly Line upgrade: engineering challenges & contributing carbon net zero 2030

Ashraff Cader, CEng, FICE and Amarnath Paul, CEng, MICE

Overview: The Piccadilly Line Upgrade (PLU) will provide new trains and associated infrastructure to modernise the Piccadilly Line. The PLU is spilt into two stages:

• Stage 1, the introduction of a new rolling stock fleet and associated enabling works
• Stage 2 – a full upgrade of the Piccadilly Line signalling system to a modern digital network

PLU Stage 1 is a £2.8bn programme that will provide a new fleet of air-cooled modern trains for the Piccadilly Line with improved reliability, efficiency and accessibility, together with new and expanded maintenance and stabling facilities. Stage 1 will result in a 23% uplift in peak capacity with trains running at 27 trains per hour or a train every 2 minutes 13 seconds. Full introduction of the new fleet and the subsequent timetable uplift is planned for early to mid-2027.