And this, is the brand new Tube for London
which is gonna be on the Piccadilly Line
from 2025
Siemens got in touch, and they said "Geoff ...
.... would you like to come out to out Wildenrath test track in Germany ...
... to come and ride it?"
Yes I would!
So we've flown to Germany
to Düsseldorf, to the Siemens
test facility, at Wildenrath
i've been here before, I've made Londonist videos here in the past
the trains are actually being built in Vienna
Austria, but they're being tested here
in Wildenwrath before being taken over to the UK, and there's one
right behind me there
first, we gotta go and have a briefing
Good afternoon, and ...
... very warm welcome, our test centre here
from Siemens mobiity, and indeed Transport for London
Ok, i mean i'm slightly excited just to be hanging out
by the new train!
Welcome! Hello
We are on board
it is a nine car train
the existing Picc 73's are six cars
but this is an intruiging nine car design
where there's like a long carriage
and then a short carriage
and then a long carriage, and only the longer carriages
have bogies, now there's a mirror
partition there, so they're not letting us down the whole train
so it reminds me of when we visited it
to the one in Goole, a mockup, this is not a mockup
it is, very real
the chosen moquette, is here
and we're about to go for a little ride, around the track
Thank you for the hundreds of engineers
in Siemens, across Europe
that have cleverly designed this
in collaberation with their colleagues in TfL
you can also see we've kept in line with some
some key heritage principals, if you look at
particularly, the light design
you see the, the lights
reflect some of the Art Deco
architecture on the Piccadilly Line
and the seats are classic, i would say classic London Underground seats
with its whole new seat covering design
called "Holden"
* Music Plays *
the cab appears to be open, so i'm just gonna ... pop into the cab
* Music Plays *
one thing i didn't appreciate, when I went to the Goole day
is the windows, i'm not sure what to make of these windows
there's like three little square windows
is that less? window space
than you've currently got, on the 73's
it might be - they're not
it was rumoured they were narrower, they're not narrower
there's just these, there's these bits inbetween here
rather than it be one long continous window
it's perfectly light and you can see out though
i have no issue with that
i feel like it wouldn't be a Geoff video unless i also
got on the floor, because i was hoping that the
the pattern down here
i was wondering if there would be like coloured flecks
here, it's just
it's just little grey flecks
on black, you know how on the S-Stock they've got like
different coloured flecks, there's no
coloured flecks here
but the moquette is awesome
it's being being built in Austria, but then tested here
- tested here and half of them are being being in Vienna, half are being built in Goole
as of next year is that right? - so that plan is from next spring
next year, that Siemens start production
of this new train, in Goole - fifty percent is the plan
now an inturiging question i have to ask is tha ti've heard on the grapevine
that these might be slightly wider than the existing '73 stock
and that some sort of
modifications as stations, might have had to of happened
can you shed any light on that?
so we have built these trains, to get as many
customers in as possible
to improve mobility impared access
so they're deliberately designed
to maximise the space in the tube, that does mean
that on some of our platforms
we do have to make slight modifications to the edges of the platforms
some bits of the infrastructure
thats planned, something we've done previously
so during the stage rec of the train
we will carefully risk assess that
and make the modifications
but the end state when we have all these fantastic new trains in
will give us a better platform to train interface
for everyone
and because it's walk through, what we think it's about a ten percent increade in capacity?
so there's a ten percent increase, because they''re slightly wider
because of the through gangways
because we've managed quite a lof of the components
you would normally find in the ceiling of a train
below the train, been re-engineered
including the air conditioning? is the air conditioning below, beneath? where's the aircon stuff!
the bulky kit is beneath the train
so it's had to be reengineered
'cause its very small
so with our brilliant engineers we've reengineered it
so that it's beneath the train
and be easily mainted as well
* Music Plays *
are you taking footage on your phone?
I was - You making a video?
well, no i'm not making a video
i just, get a shot for posterity
Looks great, doesn't it? - So ...
when they released the press pictures at the beginning of August, whenever it was
it looked good, but seeing it in the flesh here
it's better, definetely
seeing on a test track, moving
It's the real deal!
i've just been asked
how do i find the ride quality
it is a little quieter
it is also smoother, but i'm aware that we're
on a test track, and not on the actual, live
Piccadilly line, so ...
yeah, it's, it's ...
and people always complain if the seats are hard
the seats aren't hard, the seats are great
i like the fact there's like a little roundel
embedded in there, down there
what i actually forgot to do
but i just remembered i can use my phone, was gonna bring my tape measure
and measure the width between the doors, and also
the seating are here, so here's a shot of me now
using my phone, using the measure app
to see how wide it is!
train's come to a stop which is handy
so if i press that there
and drag that across ...
that's measuring, measuring
that is measuring, that is saying
that is, oh! exactly
two point five
so two and a half metres
ok, on screen now
a little caption at the bottom
there'll be the width, of what the '73 stock is like
cause when i get back i'll ...
... i'll measure the existing Piccadilly line train
am gonna measure the distance between the seats as well though
we're actually split into two groups Phil, are you in my group?
i'm assuming you are, because you're here
Yes! - Okay, right
if not, i'm in the wrong place - yeah
maybe you've been in the wrong group the entire time ?!
i'm just grateful ... that it's not raining
phew! we're outside
ok, so you can see here on the longer carriage
bogies
there, and then ...
... can you see here this is a shorter carriage, so it goes long
short ... long
short, and there are two sets of double doors on each
whether it's a long carriage
or the shorter one, and the shorter carriage
has no bogies
underneath it, but as soon as you then get
there's a separation gap there, you then get to the longer carriage
the bogies, are then back
and apparantly the bogies are lighter, a lot lighter
which enables it to acellerate faster
and just be a better train, because it's not as heavy
i'm still not sure why they've put
buttons on a train
where you know the buttons aren't going to be used
it's not like it's an old train where
you used to operate the doors
and now you don't, it's a new train
maybe it's just, i don't know! it's got buttons
which won't be used, the doors will open automatically
i'm with, i was gonna called you David, it's Dave
now only my mother calls me David
if i've done somethiing wrong - my mother calls me Geoffrey
well there you go - rather than Geoff
right, nice to meet you, Hi! - Hello!
the internet, the Youtubes Dave
they're screaming out, their like
basically, i asked umm
some of friends of mine, i said "what do you want to know when I go to Wildenwrath"
and they went, "how is it a nine car train?"
and not a six car train, so a m i right in saying
there's like, five long carriages
with bogies, and four small ones inbetween?
without the bogies, is that right
quite simply, it's 113 metres long
How we get to 113 metres long, was our choice
ok ... - We designed a nine car train
because what we needed, was
space, to put all the modern systems in
how did we get the space?
you ask ... - Right!
we didn't put all the bogies on the train
you've got 9 cars in which you'd expect to have 18 bogies
but only have 10 bogies
and we do that in a formation where you've got
two what we call "DM" cars, the driver motor cars - they're at either end yup
then you've got the Key Motor cars
with the engines on, and inbetween, a DM, and a KM
you've got an IM
which is the intermediate car
which has no bogies on, and which is shorter
which is where your theory about four short ones
is absolutely right, but
the reason why we've done that, is to get the space
so we can put the equipment on, like air cooling
also, is lighter
so that's why ... because we haven't got all the bogies on
the whole frame is aluminium as well
so we were asked to design the lightest possible train
so, it's less energy
so that's why it's 20% more energy efficient
but it was based on a Tram concept
with an articulation Tram, so when they took that concept
and said we'll apply that to a metro train
thank you, we gotta go, 'cause ...
our time is almost up at Wildenwrath
and we gotta run, thank you so much for your time
see you again, thank you sir - nice to see you
that is it, that is the brand new tube train for London
you will ride that in 2025
on the Piccadilly line, my thanks to Siemens
and everyone here today, for having us
i'm gonna go home now