Traction motors from Piccadilly line trains are to be refurbished in Loughborough after London Underground confirmed a £6.5 million deal with the historic works.
The contract has been awarded to Brush Traction, which has been owned by Wabtec since 2011, following an open tendering process. It will continue an established relationship between the works and London Underground.
Wabtec’s UK managing director, Chris Weatherall, described it as the largest traction motor refurbishment contract the company has received from Transport for London (TfL) in recent years.
LT130 motors from the existing Piccadilly line fleet will be transported from Cockfosters depot in London to Loughborough to be repaired, cleaned and painted. The refurbishment will ensure a reliable service on the existing stock ahead of the introduction of New Tube for London trains around 2022.
The contract, which will run for three years with an optional two-year extension, was formally awarded by London Underground managing director Nick Brown in Loughborough on 16 October. He presented a copy of the contract to Chris Weatherall alongside the Secretary of State for Education, and Loughborough MP, Nicky Morgan.
Although it won’t directly create any new jobs, the contract will sustain the existing 376-strong workforce in Loughborough and create a platform for future growth.
Nick Brown said: “Brush Traction is playing an important role in the modernisation of London’s transport network and is helping us to meet the unprecedented demand created by the city’s success and rapid population growth.
“Suppliers like them keep London working and growing and help us to support the national economy. We have invested more than £865 million with suppliers in the Midlands over the past year and we are always interested in hearing from other suppliers across the UK to see how they could work with us.”
“I am thrilled that Transport for London has awarded this contract to Brush Traction – a company renowned for their work on completely refurbishing trains, based here in Loughborough,” added Nicky Morgan.
Chris Weatherall said: “Wabtec companies have supported TfL for many years and we look forward to continuing our long association with this key customer for many years to come.”
I think that both the Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines may need to replace the 1972 stocks & 1973 stocks at some point as these rolling stocks used on both tube lines are getting old and to be replaced by brand new air-conditioning tube stocks if train manufactures such as Siemens, Hitachi, Bombardier, Alstom and CAF are the bidders and if one of them wins the contract then they be building brand new air-conditioning tube stocks for the Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines.
So the 4 deep level tube lines will be getting new tube stocks in 2020-onwards.