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Evening Standard

National

Tom Place

Piccadilly line faces summer-long closures to test new £3.4 billion fleet of trains - see full list of dates

Piccadilly TfL Uxbridge Sun Heathrow (Geopolitical Entity)

Piccadilly line passengers have been warned about planned closures throughout the summer, with upgrade work ramping up ahead of the introduction of a new fleet of trains.

The closures will allow essential works to the line’s infrastructure to be completed, including upgrades to its power supply, tracks, depot, platforms and CCTV system.

The partial closures have been mostly planned for weekends, with suspensions running through the Friday Night Tube to the end of Sunday service.

Weekday closures have been largely timed to take place on school holidays when demand on the network is significantly reduced.

Work already completed during previous closures includes weight-load testing of the new trains and platform adaptations to accommodate longer trains with different door placements.

The new Piccadilly line trains, which are scheduled to enter service between December 2026 and June 2027, will bring significant benefits to customers including walk-through carriages, increased reliability and frequency, and improved accessibility.

They form part of a £3.4 billion investment to modernise the line and help it to run more “reliably, safely, inclusively and sustainably”, according to TfL.

They will also have wider double doors, real-time digital display screens for customer information, and on-train CCTV cameras for additional customer security, while air conditioning will be introduced to the deep tube network for the first time.

Each train will provide 10% more capacity, use 20% less energy, and deliver a smoother ride. Train frequency will rise from 24 to 27 trains per hour, boosting peak capacity in central London by 23%.

One of the new Piccadilly line trains being tested at Earl’s Court station (TfL)

The trains will operate on infrastructure that is in many areas more than 100 years old and interacts extensively with other lines, making thorough testing essential.

Testing is currently taking place during overnight engineering hours and weekend line closures, with new trains being tested on the network during passenger hours in the coming months.

TfL is advising all Piccadilly line users to plan ahead using TfL’s real-time travel information tools, including TfL Journey Planner and TfL Go.

Posters and public address announcements will also be put in place at all relevant stations.

Stuart Harvey, TfL’s Chief Capital Officer, said: “I’d like to thank our customers for their patience while we carry out these essential upgrades to the Piccadilly line and rigorously test the new trains which will transform journeys for many decades to come.

“Introducing a new fleet of trains is a huge engineering and logistical feat which inevitably requires upgrades and intensive testing. Although much of the hard work goes on behind the scenes, there are times when we need to close sections of the railway to ensure that these pioneering new trains can operate effectively and interact correctly with a wide range of complex infrastructure.

“We are very confident that once this intensive period of upgrades and testing is completed, and the new trains start to enter service, our customers will reap the benefits of moving around the capital on these game-changing new trains.”