Plan for new TfL trains to be sold to fund Piccadilly Line fleet

Trains ordered by Transport for London are to be sold to fund a new Piccadilly Line fleet.

TfL would not confirm that the 70 Class 345 Aventras for Crossrail were the fleet for sale.

Ordered in 2014, the ninecar trains are being built by Bombardier. So far around 30 have been built. These are undergoing various stages of testing, with 345005-017 delivered to TfL Rail.

The plans were announced at a London Assembly hearing on January 3, attended by TfL Commissioner Mike Brown, Deputy Mayor for Transport and Deputy Chairman Val Shawcross, and other senior TfL officials. The meeting followed TfL’s revision of its forecast for fares, which was down on previous plans.

A TfL spokesman told RAIL: “As is perfectly standard and common practice across the rail industry, we are looking at whether we could sell and lease back some of TfL’s rolling stock, as we have previously done on London Overground. This would allow us to purchase new trains on London Underground’s Piccadilly Line, where there is a clear need for a modern fleet.”

TfL plans to place an order for the Piccadilly Line trains this year, as part of the Deep Tube Upgrade programme. Currently that line has a fleet of 86 trains dating from 1973. The route is due to be the first to receive new trains as part of the upgrade in 2022 - overall some 250 new Deep Tube trains are to be ordered for the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City Lines.

A TfL report published on December 12 last year showed that 11 Class 345s have been introduced into passenger traffic between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield, but that this was later than planned as a result of software issues. TfL said that these have been addressed, but that this delayed the full fleet deployment.