London Underground 2009 Stock

2009 Tube Stock
In service	2009 – present
Manufacturer	Bombardier Transportation (UK)
Family name	Movia
Replaced	1967 Stock
Capacity	maximum 288 seated; maximum 876 standing (6 people/m2)
Line(s) served	Victoria
Specifications
Train length	133.275 m (437 ft 3.0 in)
Car length	16.595 m (54 ft 5.3 in) (trailing cars) 16.345 m (53 ft 7.5 in) (all others)
Width	2.616 m (8 ft 7.0 in)
Height	2.883 m (9 ft 5.5 in)
Maximum speed	80 km/h (50 mph)
Weight	197.3 tonnes (194.2 long tons; 217.5 short tons) when empty
Stock type	Deep-level tube
Notes
London Transport portal

The 2009 Tube Stock is a type of London Underground train built by Bombardier as part of its Movia family at its Litchurch Lane Works in Derby, England. A total of 47 eight-car units have been built for the Victoria line, entering passenger service between July 2009^[1] and June 2011 and replacing the 1967 Tube Stock.^[2]

Description

Dot matrix display within a 2009 Stock carriage

The trains are part of a £3.4 billion contract awarded by the now-defunct Metronet to Bombardier to supply new trains featuring Automatic Train Operation and signalling for the Victoria line and other sub-surface lines.^[3] This upgrade, when completed in 2012,^[4] is expected to provide improved reliability, an 8% decrease in journey times between stations, and a 16% overall decrease in journey times.^[5] This is due in part to the trains having better performance than the 1967 Stock they replaced - they have a higher top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph), a faster maximum acceleration of 1.3 m/s² (4.3 ft/s²), a normal service deceleration of 1.14 m/s² (3.7 ft/s²), and an emergency brake deceleration of 1.4 m/s² (4.6 ft/s²), the same as the 1992 Tube Stock.^[6] At peak times, 43 trains should be in service, an increase of six over the 1967 Stock.^[7]

The trains are 40 mm (1.57 in) wider than the 1967 Stock to take advantage of the Victoria line's loading gauge, which is slightly larger than those of other deep-level tube lines.^[8] This, however, prevents them from leaving the Victoria line, except by road.^[9] The trains seat 252 and have standing space for an estimated 1,196 passengers, giving a 19% increase in capacity over the 1967 Stock.^[5] They also have wider doors for easier boarding and alighting of passengers in order to reduce dwell times in stations.^[4] The trains have been built with Bombardier's FICAS technology, giving a thinner bodyshell and hence (along with the larger size) more internal space for passengers.^[10] They are the first London Underground trains to be designed since the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations were introduced,^[11] so they have more facilities for people with impaired mobility, including multi-purpose areas with tip-up seats and space for wheelchairs and pushchairs,^[12] and offset centre door poles for wheelchair access.^[13]

Interior of production unit, seen at Brixton

Exterior view of a carriage at Euston

The trains are the longest deep-level tube trains on the system at 133.275 m (437 ft 3 in), 3 m (9 ft 10 in) longer than the 1967 Stock^[8] (although the new sub-surface S Stock, which is also part of Bombardier's Movia family and has been ordered under the same contract, is longer still).^[8] They are said to use a modified version of the traction pack used on Bombardier's Electrostar trains.^[14] They have CCTV cameras^[5] and dot-matrix displays to show real-time service information. As with the 1973 stock, the driver can select between two settings for audio announcements: "commuter" and "tourist".^[8] They maintain a fixed height to keep the train in profile under different loading patterns and regardless of the extent of wheel wear.^[15] Unlike most other London Underground trains, they have their Combined Traction/Brake Controller (driver's manual controls, often called "dead man's handle") on the right-hand side of the cab,^[16] as most of the platforms on the Victoria line are on the right.^[16] Access to the cab for driver changes is easier than on the 1967 Stock: an external side door is fitted,^[17] whereas the cab in the 1967 Stock had to be accessed through the passenger compartment, which could be difficult at rush hour.^[18]

Each train is made up of two 4-car units of the configuration Driving Motor - Trailer - Non Driving Motor - Uncoupling (Shunting) Non Driving Motor,^[19][20] which are coupled back-to-back. The trains are maintained at the Victoria line's Northumberland Park Depot, with Bombardier staff on site for warranty parts replacement.^[21] They were originally intended to have all-motored axles as in the 1992 Stock, so that they would have enough traction and acceleration for faster running times; however, it was later decided that 75% of motored axles would be sufficient,^[22] which reduced project costs by around £10 million^[23] (about 3.5% of the overall cost^[24]). They have mechanical-only Scharfenberg couplers.^[25]

Introduction into service

Diagram of the 2009 stock

The design of the trains was finalised in September 2004. Manufacture of two pre-production trains began in January 2005, the first scheduled to be completed by mid-2006.^[2] On 3 February 2006, Metronet announced that the first of the pre-production cars had been completed in preparation for static testing. From 21 July to 4 August 2006, a mock-up of the train was on show at Euston Square Gardens, near Euston Square tube station, for a customer acceptance test followed by public display.

From September 2006, the first pre-production train underwent testing at Bombardier's manufacturing and test site at its Litchurch Lane Works in Derby.^[8] It was due to be delivered to London Underground by the end of 2006 for testing on the Victoria line during engineering hours^[2] but this did not occur until May 2007.^[8] It was also used for driver and maintenance training and familiarisation.

The second pre-production train was also tested on the Victoria line during engineering hours, and was expected to begin trial running in full passenger service in July 2008.^[8] However, this date slipped twice, first to January 2009^[26] and then to July 2009. The train finally entered service on 21 July 2009, leaving Northumberland Park depot at 23:00^[27] and forming the 23:55 service between Seven Sisters and Brixton.^[1]

Main production commenced at the end of 2009, with one train entering passenger service every two weeks from February 2010. By mid-2011, there was a sufficient number of trains in service to allow the withdrawal of the few remaining 1967 Stock trains, the last of which ran on 30 June 2011.

Problems

During the morning rush hour on 21 July 2010, a train broke down at Pimlico, and ambulances had to be called in to rescue almost 3,000 trapped passengers. Five days later, on 26 July 2010, another morning rush-hour train broke down at Oxford Circus, causing all Victoria line services to be temporarily suspended. Transport for London cited software failures and over-sensitive door sensors as the main causes of both problems.^[28][29] A new sensitive door edge, branded Intelligent Sensitive Edge, is being developed by the Victoria line engineers to overcome this problem, and TfL hopes to install it across the stock at a cost of around £3 million.

Roster

Individual cars of the 2009 Stock have a five-digit number. The second digit identifies the role of car and the last three digits identify the set number (Numbers 001 to 094). A end units have odd numbers while D end units have even. The numbering system of the 2009 stock upon introduction is as follows:

	← Brixton (A) Walthamstow Central (D) →
Formation	11xxx (DM)	12xxx (T)	13xxx (NDM)	14xxx (UNDM)		14xxx (UNDM)	13xxx (NDM)	12xxx (T)	11xxx (DM)
Facilities
Numbers	11001 ∥ 11093	12001 ∥ 12093	13001 ∥ 13093	14001 ∥ 14093		14002 ∥ 14094	13002 ∥ 13094	12002 ∥ 12094	11002 ∥ 11094

• - Wheelchair spaces
• DM - Driving Motor car
• T - Trailer (non-powered) car
• NDM - Non-Driving Motor car
• UNDM - Uncoupling Non-Driving Motor car

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to London Underground 2009 Stock.

• 2009 Tube Stock data sheet