Skip to main content

Bombardier to supply new propulsion technology to London Underground

Rail technology supplier Bombardier Transportation has been awarded a contract by London Underground to supply new motors and traction control equipment for its fleet of Central line trains. This contract, which includes ongoing maintenance support, will run until 2024 and is valued by Bombardier Transportation at approximately US$143.7 million (£112.1 million). Bombardier's re-traction project is part of London Underground's larger Central Line Improvement Programme (which aims to bring a number of pas
August 29, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Rail technology supplier 513 Bombardier Transportation has been awarded a contract by London Underground to supply new motors and traction control equipment for its fleet of Central line trains. This contract, which includes ongoing maintenance support, will run until 2024 and is valued by Bombardier Transportation at approximately US$143.7 million (£112.1 million).

Bombardier's re-traction project is part of London Underground's larger Central Line Improvement Programme (which aims to bring a number of passenger-focussed improvements and is expected to reduce customer-affecting failures on the Central line fleet.

For the programme, Bombardier will replace the direct current (DC) traction motors on Central line trains with the latest MITRAC alternating current (AC) traction systems and MITRAC traction control equipment. The Central Line '92 tube stock are the last London Underground trains to use DC traction motors, and MITRAC will bring benefits by reducing energy consumption while improving fleet reliability and performance. In total, Bombardier will supply new motors and traction control equipment for 85 eight-car Central Line trains (680 cars in total).

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The world was your Oyster
    November 5, 2021
    Embracing digital payments and transparent journey planning is key to changing traveller behaviour and accelerating integrated public transport, says Martin Howell of Worldline
  • DSRC holds the key to tomorrow's transportation
    June 15, 2016
    Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) technologies are poised to revolutionise transportation system planning, management and operations. But will widespread US adoption take five years, or twenty? As Ben Pierce of Battelle explains, the answer depends largely on which roadmap the ITS community chooses to follow for deployment.
  • Israel aspires to ITS-led future
    May 29, 2013
    Shay Soffer, Chief Scientist with the Israel National Road Safety Authority, talks to Jason Barnes about his country’s current ITS outlook and how he sees this developing in the future. Israel ranks alongside countries such as the US and France in the road safety stakes, with an average 7.1 deaths per billion kilometres driven. But at that point the similarities end, as the country’s overriding issue is pedestrian safety. This is driven by several factors, including being a relatively small country where pe
  • Bringing AI into ITS: Artificial realities
    May 21, 2025
    AI can have a positive transformative effect on transportation safety and efficiency – but if you want creativity you still need a person, says Huawei