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

  • Integrating ferry transport into smart ticketing
    March 1, 2013
    Transport authorities are increasingly looking to integrate ferry travel into the mix of public transport. David Crawford finds out more. The new A$370m (US$398m) Opal public transport smartcard system being installed by the Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS)-led Pearl consortium in Sydney is geographically the largest in the world to date. The consortium includes the Commonwealth Bank of Australia; Australian retail payment system provider ePay; Australian infrastructure engineering company Downer Group; a
  • Yutraffic Varia chosen for Sydney's new harbour crossing
    January 3, 2024
    Western Harbour Tunnel is being built to take pressure off existing routes in Australian city
  • Future Railway launches pantograph design competition
    March 12, 2014
    As part of the UK’s rail electrification programme, FutureRailway is launching a competition to design a Pantograph Dynamic Behaviour Measurement Device for use in Rolling Stock Maintenance Depots. Currently pantographs cannot be run too close together and are limited in the speed they can achieve. Electric trains which can run at faster speeds whilst coupled together in multiple could improve both train performance and network capacity. Improvements in pantograph capability are thought to be needed to r
  • Skanska to build underground tramway in Los Angeles
    July 4, 2014
    Skanska has, in a joint venture with Traylor Brothers, signed a contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to construct the Regional Connector, an underground tramway in downtown Los Angeles, USA. The total contract value for the joint venture company Regional Connector Constructors is US$918 million. The Regional Connector project consists of the design and construction of a three kilometre double track light rail transit subway in downtown Los Angeles with three new stat