In Rail Engineer Issue 214 (May-June 2025), we described the first 100 years or so of the London Underground. This second article, covering approximately the last 50 years, includes many events your writer witnessed, led, or was involved in.
The 1970s were times of inflation, three-day weeks, industrial relations issues, and declining passenger numbers. However, the Piccadilly line was extended to provide the first rail link to Heathrow Airport accompanied by new 1973 tube stock, which was the first fleet with electrically controlled emergency brakes eliminating the traditional Westinghouse air brake.
This change led to the provision of a cab-based electronic panel that could indicate train faults to the driver (a data link between cars and the use of integrated circuits for the first time; the forerunner of today’s train control and monitoring systems). The Jubilee line was opened in 1977 running from Charing Cross to Baker Street and taking over the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line.
The tripcock/trainstop system was, and is, an effective control for the risk of a collision following a SPAD. There remained a risk that a train might not stop at a terminal station and crash into buffers and/or the tunnel end. Sadly, this risk was realised at Moorgate on the Northern City line (now part of Great Northern). On 28 February 1975, a six-car 1938 tube stock train failed to stop at the Moorgate terminus. The train collided with the end of the tunnel so hard that the first rescuers thought it was a four-car train. Forty-three people died and seventy-four were injured.
As a result of this accident, a new system called ‘trains entering terminal station’ protection was developed and rolled out. This provided a train stop approximately halfway down a terminal platform which would not lower unless the train speed was proved to be less than 10 miles/hour.
The 1980s
Passenger numbers had been declining for many years since the Second World War, but this was about to change. Control of London Transport had been passed to the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1970 but, in 1981, an incoming Labour administration led by Ken Livingstone was committed to reducing fares. After some legal challenges, fares were reduced and point-to-point fares were replaced by zonal fares. The latter had been proposed by an enlightened London Transport management, as zonal fares were an essential prerequisite for automatic fare collection technology that was available at the time.
Normally, zonal fares would result in some people’s fares rising, but a general fares reduction meant that there were no losers. Zonal Travelcards (season tickets) were available on tube and bus, and the system was soon extended to suburban main line travel. The zonal fares system paved the way for the later introduction of Oyster cards and use of contactless credit / debit cards. London Transport was transferred back to the government in 1984, two years before the GLC was abolished.
In the 1980s there was a general move to encourage competition among suppliers and also to give suppliers more responsibility. Hitherto, the Underground had carried out the overall design and systems integration of its trains acting as its own main contractor. It was, for example, quite usual to purchase traction control from one supplier and traction motors from another. A contract would be placed with Metro-Cammell for car bodies, possibly for bogies too, and for assembly. Another company installed the wiring. Separate contracts were placed for all the other equipment fitted to the trains (traction control, motors, wheelsets, suspension, brakes, heaters, lamps, etc.) and these items were shipped to Metro-Cammell for assembly. The future involved placing contracts with a supplier as main contractor.
The 1983 tube stock built for the Jubilee line was the last of the old procurement method and the first of the new. The line needed about 30 trains but, because of the decline in traffic, the order had been reduced to 15 trains. After the fares reduction mentioned earlier, passenger numbers rose significantly and it was rapidly decided to order a further 16 trains, but using Metro-Cammell as main contractor, involving significant knowledge transfer from customer to supplier.
In terms of technology, electronics were making their mark, and three prototype trains were built using power electronic ‘chopper’ control of DC motors with a through train databus. Other innovations such as welded aluminium bodies, outside sliding doors and even steering bogies were tried on these trains.
Sadly, there was a serious fire in a wooden escalator at King’s Cross on 18 November 1987 which cost 31 lives. Following a public inquiry chaired by QC Sir Desmond Fennell, there were major changes to the Underground. Management responsibilities were clearly defined where they had been blurred, and many fire detection and suppression systems were introduced, (which provided some interesting challenges when the 2013 150th anniversary steam train runs were being planned).
The programme also included replacement materials for those that perform badly in a fire including replacing all escalators that still used wooden steps and balustrades. Work to upgrade materials on trains allowed significant cosmetic upgrades and the standards that were developed have helped make today’s Underground trains some of the most fire-resistant in the world.
The 1990s saw great change. The Central line was upgraded with new 1992 tube stock, designed and built by British Rail Engineering at Derby (now Alstom), and new signalling with ATO and ATP that was gradually rolled out. This included the gradual adoption of Westinghouse Westrace computer based interlockings. As mentioned, a number of fleets were refurbished both to make them more attractive to customers and to replace materials whose fire performance was no longer acceptable. The opportunity was taken to paint the hitherto unpainted trains as an epidemic of graffiti had been impossible to be completely removed from the unpainted aluminium surface.
The Jubilee line was extended (JLE) to Stratford in 1999 to unlock development at Canary Wharf. Just one of many challenges was replacing the nearly new 1983 tube stock with new GEC-Alsthom (now Alstom) 1996 tube stock trains powered by AC motors controlled by variable voltage, variable frequency inverters. A new innovation was platform edge doors on the new underground platforms.
The Northern line needed new trains but this was unaffordable due to the capital demands of the JLE. One supplier proposed building trains that would be paid for on a service provision basis, a process that became the private finance initiative (PFI). The Northern line project went ahead as a PFI and the fleet, although built by GEC-Alsthom, the same supplier as the 1996 tube stock, had many technical differences including traction control, bogies, and compressors. Another PFI contract was let – converting London Underground’s power system to take the majority of its electricity from the national grid resulting in the closure of Lots Road power station.
The 1990s was the time when the main line railways were privatised, something that affected the Underground very little except for the Waterloo and City line which joined London Underground from British Railways, having been built by the London and South West Railway in 1898.
A new century
As a result of decisions made by the incoming Labour government in 1997, the 2000s led to more change. A Greater London Authority was set up in 2000 along with the creation of a new transport body Transport for London (TfL), which took over management of the franchised bus network first, along with other functions such as regulation of taxis and major London roads.
There was pressing need to modernise several tube lines in the style of the Central line and the Government decided that this would be carried out by private finance; becoming known as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Mayor Ken Livingstone was opposed to this move, so London Underground remained with the Government until the deals were done in 2003. The PPP provided for the consortia Metronet and Tube Lines to maintain the network and to modernise most of the lines, while London Underground operated the railway.
In parallel, further PFI contracts were let: a comprehensive operations communications network and trunked radio system known as Connect, and a major upgrade of fare collection and checking including introducing Oyster cards, known as Prestige.
One of the earliest outcomes of any of the PPP contracts followed a late change to the Tube Lines contract requiring a further upgrade to the Jubilee line due to the success of the JLE. Trains were extended from six to seven cars, requiring extra platform edge doors, alterations to platform barriers, and alterations to power supply, sidings, and signals. Four additional trains were also obtained.
The changeover from six to seven car trains took place during the Christmas holidays 2005. The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were awarded to London in 2005, shortly before a major terrorist attack on three trains and a bus, killing 52 people and injuring 770 others.
Line upgrades ordered as part of the PPP contracts started to be delivered in the 2010s despite all the PPP contracts coming to an end around then for a variety of reasons. Bombardier and Invensys (successor to the Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company) upgraded the Victoria line by overlaying the new signalling system over the old, allowing the old trains to run on the old system, whilst the new 2009 tube stock could operate with the new system.
Once all the old trains were removed, track circuits were replaced and interlockings (which originally acted as an interface between the old interlocking and the new ATP) were reset to their designed function. This enabled full performance which, at 36 trains per hour, is 50% higher than the original 1960s design and about 10% better than was specified in the PPP. Although there was more capacity and journeys were quicker, changes to the power supply and regenerative braking meant that the significantly bigger service uses less electricity than before the upgrade.
Alcatel, which became Thales and now Hitachi Rail, provided its Seltrac ATO/ATP system for the Northern and Jubilee lines. The sub-surface network of District, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines were re-equipped with 1,402 cars of S stock, the first air-conditioned trains on the Underground and the first time the sub surface network had had a common fleet.
Resignalling was more challenging and, after two false starts, a contract was let with Thales for another Seltrac installation which is still being gradually rolled out. Other innovations included permitting contactless credit and debit cards to operate ticket gates, Wi-Fi in tube stations, and all-night running on Friday and Saturday nights on several tube lines.
What customers probably noticed most was a general improvement in service dependability. This was enabled by the PPP performance regime, but, for staff and management, the opportunity to showcase the network during the worldwide gaze on the 2012 Olympics was probably the most significant factor that delivered a performance culture that persists to this day. In 2013, 150 years of the Underground was celebrated by running a steam train with wooden bodied cars around parts of the Circle line ably assisted by the 100 year-old electric locomotive Sarah Siddons, something that was managed with rigorous attention to safety.
Present day
On to the 2020s, and the early years were dominated by financial issues arising from Covid-19. On 20 September 2021, the Northern line extension to Battersea Power Station opened. ATO continues to be rolled out on the sub surface lines and 4G and 5G mobile coverage is being rolled out throughout the Underground tunnels and stations.
Probably the biggest event in the 2020s, was the opening on 24 May 2022 of the central section of the Elizabeth line. Despite a nearly four-year delay, the ridership of the line has significantly surpassed forecasts having already reached a total of over 600 million journeys, amply justifying its construction.
By end of 2026, the first air-conditioned trains on the small gauge Piccadilly line are due to be rolled out.
Economic growth
Throughout this article, technology, politics, and finance have combined – or clashed – to commission and enable improvements to London’s Tube network. It’s easy to get fixated on the process of design, finance, and operation of a metro system, and it’s fair to say the costs are significant. When immersed in these issues, as your writer was for just over a quarter of the Underground’s history, it’s sometimes hard to remember that we’re there to stimulate economic activity by enabling people’s journeys. But as the Battersea Power Station extension, Elizabeth line and, long before, extensions into suburbia remind us, that’s what it’s all for.
History has a habit of repeating itself and, back in the day, the Metropolitan Railway became something of a property developer. Now, in the 2020s, TfL’s Places for People organisation is promoting property development all over again. Another factor worth remembering is that all the lines carry far more passengers than was envisaged by the various organisations that originally planned and built them.
With thanks to long-time friend and colleague Graham Neil for help on this article.