Bombardier wins US$143.7M contract from London Underground
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
Bombardier Transportation will supply new motors and traction control equipment for trains on the busy Central line, the last line on the vast metropolitan rail network to use direct current traction motors
London Underground Central line trains will be powered by new Bombardier Transportation propulsion technology. PHOTO: Bombardier
The contract, which will commence August 25 and run until 2024, is valued at approximately 112.1 million British pounds (US$143.7 million).
Bombardier will also provide ongoing maintenance support.
Mark Wild, managing director of London Underground, said, “The Central line is one of the busiest and most important lines on the London Underground network. We are making a number of improvements to reduce delays and make the line more reliable for our customers. Installing new motors is one of the most important parts of this work, and will mean we can deliver a more reliable service to our customers, which will in turn boost capacity.”
Bombardier will replace the direct current traction motors on Central line trains with Mitrac alternating current traction motors and Mitrac traction control equipment.
The Central line trains are the last Underground trains to use DC traction motors, and Bombardier says the Mitrac motors will reduce energy consumption while greatly improving fleet reliability and performance.
In total, Bombardier will supply new motors and traction control equipment for 85 8-car Central line trains (680 cars in total).
The project will be led from Bombardier’s Västeras site in Sweden, and the installation of the first train, plus associated vehicle integration works and testing, will be undertaken at Bombardier’s Derby site in the U.K.
“This important contract win is testament to the significant improvements in energy consumption, reliability and performance of our Bombardier Mitrac systems. This win is also a ringing endorsement of our traction system business, following Mitrac’s strong performance on other London Underground lines,” said Richard Hunter, managing director of Bombardier Transportation UK.
Between 2009 and 2018, Bombardier has delivered or has orders for more than 2,800 rail vehicles for the London Underground.
