The London Underground 1973 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are ...

of the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

. It was introduced into service in 1975 with the extension of the line to Hatton Cross, followed by a further extension to Heathrow Central in 1977. A total of 86 six-car trains were built. The trains were built by

Metro-Cammell Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. Purchased ...

between 1974 and 1977, and were refurbished by

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...

between 1996 and 2001. They are some of the oldest trains running on the Underground, and in Britain as a whole, second only to the 1972 Stock running on the

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partl ...

History

In the early 1970s London Transport placed an order for a new fleet of trains to replace the 1938 Stock and 1959 Stock vehicles which previously operated on the

. Built between 1974 and 1977 by Metro Cammell in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, the first unit entered service on 19 July 1975 and the last was introduced by 1977. The trains featured longer cars and larger door space than the previous units, being designed for airport travellers with luggage. The order was for 6-car trains, made up of 196 driving motor (DM) cars, 175 trailer (T) cars and 154 uncoupling non-driving motor (UNDM) cars. Each train is made up of two 3-car units, and most units are single-ended, formed DM-T-UNDM. There are also 21 double-ended units, formed DM-T-DM, to provide additional flexibility and to operate the Aldwych shuttle (now closed).http://www.trainweb.org/tubeprune/73%20tube%20stock.htm The initial order included two test units equipped with solid state traction equipment and electronic control systems. These were double-ended units 892-692-893 (delivered 1977) and 894-694-895 (delivered 1979), and were known collectively as the ETT (Experimental Tube Train). The first unit was equipped by Westinghouse, the second by GEC. In order to provide additional units for the opening of the Heathrow loop, these units were converted to standard at Acton Works, entering service between 1986 and 1987. One three-car unit (166-566-366) was damaged in a terrorist attack on 7 July 2005 and subsequently scrapped.

Refurbishment

From 1996 to 2001, the entire fleet was refurbished by

Horbury railway works Horbury, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England was the site of two wagon works constructed during the Victorian period of industrialisation. Charles Roberts & Company's wagon works was located at Horbury Junction southeast of Horbury, West Y ...

. The interior was completely remodelled, with changes including the removal of transverse seating, replacement of the original wooden flooring with new floor material, replacement of straphangers with new grab rails, new enclosures for the ceiling ventilation fans, brighter lighting with new diffusers, installation of car-end windows and new perch seats in the centre of the cars, creating more luggage space for airport passengers. The original unpainted exterior was painted in London Underground's corporate livery, and a new emergency detrainment system was fitted in the cabs. The external destination blinds were also replaced with LCDs, and these were subsequently replaced with new LED units in 2015. The final refurbished unit re-entered service on 10 July 2001.

Future replacement

The Deep tube programme (DTP) originally covered the replacement of the trains and signalling on the

Bakerloo The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partl ...

and Piccadilly lines, and had been expanded to cover rolling stock requirements arising from the planned extension of the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, t ...

to Battersea, the eventual replacement of Central line trains, and proposed increased service frequency on the Northern and Jubilee lines. The EVO tube concept design, a lighter articulated train with walk-through cars, was introduced early in 2011. In early 2014 the Bakerloo, Piccadilly, Central and

Waterloo & City line The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a London Underground shuttle line that runs between Waterloo and Bank with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Hampsh ...

rolling stock replacement project was renamed

New Tube for London The New Tube for London (NTfL) is a type of London Underground train to be built by Siemens as part of its Inspiro family at Siemens's factories in Goole (East Yorkshire) and Vienna, Austria. An initial batch of 94 nine-car trains has been or ...

(NTfL) and moved from its feasibility stage to the design and specification stage. The proposal introduces fully automated trains and signalling to increase capacity first on the Piccadilly line in 2025, followed by the Central, Waterloo & City, and Bakerloo lines by 2033. The fully automated trains may not have drivers. The

ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) is a British trade union representing train drivers. It is part of the International Transport Workers' Federation and the European Transport Workers' Federation. At the end of ...

and RMT trade unions that represent the drivers strongly oppose this, saying it would be unsafe. In June 2018, TfL announced 94 nine-car 2024 stock trains to replace the 1973 Stock. As of early 2021, these are expected to enter service from 2025.

References

External links

London Underground 1973 Tube Stock - Tubeprune

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** ** ** {{London Underground Rolling Stock

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

Metropolitan Cammell multiple units Train-related introductions in 1975