Four more refurbished Central line trains are expected to enter service within a year, Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed. The renewed Tube trains come as part of the transport authority’s £500 million improvement programme to the ageing London Underground line.
The scheme involves installing wheelchair bays to trains to improve accessibility, as well as CCTV and new customer information screens in carriages. A new moquette has been added to the seating alongside new motors and electrical systems to extend the working life of trains.
In a response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request last week, TfL said there were currently 71 trains scheduled to operate on the Central line during weekday peak periods, with 85 trains on the line overall.
An FOI case office for TfL said that four more refurbished trains were expected to enter customer service by April 2026. Two trains have been fully refurbished and returned to passenger service to date. The first was worked on from April 2021 to November 2023, while the second was removed from service in July 2022 and returned in December 2024.
The case officer said: “The Central Line Improvement Programme is the most significant overhaul project undertaken by TfL in the history of the Tube and will transform journeys for millions of customers every week. The trains on the Central line are more than 30 years old and are among the least reliable on the Tube.”
They added: “Due to the complexity of the programme, the first few trains have taken longer to complete as the teams works to understand the disassembling and reassembling of the train. As the programme moves forward, the turnaround of trains will move from years to months with the completion of the programme due in 2029.”
Number of times trains are having to be fixed
The transport authority revealed that between March 12 and April 8 this year, there were 115 instances of Central line trains being taken out of service for repairs. This included 46 times to fix issues with the traction system, as well as 21 occasions when problems with the automatic train control system had to be resolved.
The case officer added that the next timetable change to the Central line was currently being considered but did not yet have its scope or implementation date approved. They said once the change had been confirmed, it would be communicated through TfL’s usual channels.
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