London’s Piccadilly Underground line is to get 94 new trains from 2023, as part of the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme.

The line – which serves Heathrow airport and central London stops including Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Covent Garden – currently has some of the oldest trains in passenger service in the UK, having been introduced in 1975.

The new Siemens-built Inspiro trains will be six metres longer than the current models, and will feature walk-through, fully air-conditioned carriages, improved accessibility, and in-train information systems.

The new fleet will enable the line to operate at up to 27 trains per hour (up from the current 24), at a rate of one train every 135 seconds at peak times.

Combined with a signalling upgrade and further train purchases, peak period capacity will increase by more than half by the end of the 2020s, allowing an additional 21,000 customers to board trains every hour at peak periods.

The agreement is the first train order under the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme, which will replace life-expired rolling stock, signalling and control systems on the Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central, and Waterloo and City lines.

siemens.co.uk, tfl.gov.uk