London Underground 1996 Stock
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The London Underground 1996 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the
Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...
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 ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
. The trains were built by
GEC Alsthom GEC or Gec may refer to: Education * Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia * Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia * Goa Engineering College, India * Government Engineering College (disambiguation) * Guild for Exceptiona ...
-
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 ...
and entered service in 1997. They are similar to the 1995 Stock used on 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, two ...
. The original 59 trains were initially built as 6-car trains. In 2005, an additional trailer car was added to lengthen each train to 7-cars and four additional 7-car trains delivered, bringing the total to 63 7-car trains.


History

The 1996 stock was ordered for the opening of the
Jubilee Line Extension The Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the line was first proposed in the 1970s. As part of the development of London Docklands, ...
(JLE) from
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to Stratford. The original plan was to heavily refurbish the original 1983 stock with similar exteriors and interiors to the 1996 stock, and replace the single-leaf doors with double doors, but this proved too expensive and was abandoned. Delays in the construction of the JLE meant that the 1996 stock entered service on the existing Jubilee line, replacing the 1983 stock, well before the JLE was opened. The first train was delivered in July 1996, entering service on 24 December 1997, with the final train entering service on 31 July 2001, although it was several months later than the rest of the fleet had entered service. The development of the 1995 stock and the 1996 stock were conducted in parallel. Detailed design was done by
Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
at its
Washwood Heath Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stechf ...
and
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facilities, and the first six train sets were manufactured at Alstom's
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factory to the 1996 stock design. All type approvals were conducted on these early train sets. The 1995 stock was produced in the Barcelona factory afterwards, and the balance of the 1996 stock followed. Final assembly and equipping was at Alstom's facility at Washwood Heath on adjacent production lines.


Overview

The 1996 Stock has an identical exterior car body to the 1995 Stock, but the two rolling stocks have different interiors, seating layouts and cabs (designed by Warwick Design Consultants), traction packages and train management systems, and slight differences in
tripcock Part of a railway signalling system, a train stop, trip stop or tripcock (sometimes called a tripper) is a train protection device that automatically stops a train if it attempts to pass a signal when the signal aspect and operating rules proh ...
geometry. 1995 Stock uses
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
body-side lights, 1996 Stock filament bulbs. The most apparent difference is the
bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
: 1996 Stock uses an Alstom bogie with a rubber suspension, 1995 Stock has AdTranz bogies with
air suspension Air suspension is a type of vehicle suspension powered by an electric or engine-driven air pump or compressor. This compressor pumps the air into a flexible bellows, usually made from textile-reinforced rubber. Unlike hydropneumatic suspension, ...
to cope with the arduous track conditions of the underground portions of the Northern line. The main technical differences arose because 1996 Stock was designed for "cheapest first cost", while 1995 Stock was designed for "life cycle cost", as Alstom had won the contract to act as the service provider and maintainer of this stock. Alstom subsequently won the maintenance contract for 1996 Stock, to be carried out at the new Stratford Market Depot in East London. The 1996 Stock was delivered as six-car trains, with two three-car units coupled together, each consisting of a Driving Motor car M a Trailer car and an Uncoupling Non-Driving Motor car NDM The standard train formation was . Twelve later trailer cars had de-icing equipment; these are referred to as De-Icing Trailer cars IT The cars are odd-numbered at one end of the train, even numbers at the other. Each number has five digits: the first two are the stock type (96); the third refers to the car type: 0 or 1 for DM, 2 or 3 for T, 4 or 5 for UNDM, 6 or 7 for ST (special trailers added in 2005) and 8 or 9 for DIT. Thus, for example, a six-car train set would be 96001, 96201, 96401, 96402, 96202, 96002.


Addition of seventh car

Following implementation of the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) on the Underground in 2003,
Tube Lines Tube Lines Limited, initially known as 'Infraco JNP' (an amalgamation of infrastructure and company), is an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, ci ...
planned to increase capacity on the Jubilee line by extending trains to 7 carriages. This would increase train capacity by 17%. The 1996 Stock had been future-proofed with the ability to add a seventh car, with platforms already long enough for seven-car trains and the platform-edge doors at the
Jubilee Line Extension The Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the line was first proposed in the 1970s. As part of the development of London Docklands, ...
stations had been built with extra space. Tube Lines ordered 87 carriages (59 additional carriages for existing 6-car trains and 4 new 7-car trains) from
Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
in June 2003 at a cost of £150m. The new carriages were manufactured in Alstom's new factory at
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,
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Spain - as the original factory on the
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
seafront had been closed. All carriages were delivered to Stratford Market Depot by November 2005. To allow for the existing trains to be modified, fewer Jubilee line services were run in December 2005 before the entire line was closed from 25 December for 5 days to allow the conversion to be completed. Work involved signalling alterations, signage and software modification to the platform-edge doors. The work was completed ahead of schedule and the line reopened two days early on 29 December. The four new trains subsequently entered service in Spring 2006. The new car is a trailer car in the "odd" unit, with design designation "G". An example of a seven-car train set would be 96077, 96277, 96677, 96477, 96478, 96278, 96078 (the seventh car in bold.) The original plan was to hard-wire two cars together so that the onboard computer would "see" them as one car, but this proved unnecessary. The four new trains were built as six-car trains and then modified to seven-car configuration at Stratford Market Depot. There were various differences between the new and old cars at the time of introduction: * Amber passenger information displays (PIDs) instead of red, similar to the displays on the 1995 Stock * Black vestibule floor instead of grey * Yellow strip on door seal * Better fitted seat covers * The ridged vestibule floor extends for the full width of the car Following refurbishment, many of these differences are no longer visible. The new cars are numbered 96601 to 96725 (odd numbers only). The step-plate on the new cars reads "Alstom 1996" for continuity reasons, but they feature the newer Alstom logo instead of the original GEC-Alsthom.


Upgrades and refurbishment

The trains were originally delivered with seats with a mauve and grey
moquette Moquette, derived from the French word for carpet, is a type of woven pile fabric in which cut or uncut threads form a short dense cut or loop pile. As well as giving it a distinctive velvet-like feel, the pile construction is particularly durabl ...
. They formed the letter J for Jubilee (the Northern line's moquette formed the letter N). This was replaced in November 2005 with the new dark blue
Tube Lines Tube Lines Limited, initially known as 'Infraco JNP' (an amalgamation of infrastructure and company), is an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, ci ...
moquette with multi-coloured and multi-size hollow squares, introduced at the same time on the
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and 1995 stock. At the same time, the purple armrests were repainted blue to match the new seats. From April 2012, all units received a refresh, with the new Barman moquette being introduced on all units, prior to the
2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. From 2014 onwards, the external LCD destination displays were replaced with LED units. The new units use orange text, instead of the original yellow. Starting in 2017, the 1996 stock underwent refurbishment, some 20 years after first being introduced. New flooring was fitted, with contrasting colours and grooves in the doorways. All grab rails were repainted Jubilee line silver, and new wheelchair backboards were provided in some trailer cars. The interior turquoise blue panels were also repainted white. The external door open/close buttons were also plated over. The first refurbished train entered service on 23 February 2017, and the last one entered service in December 2019, which means that all trains have now been refurbished.


Automatic train operation

It had been intended to open the Jubilee Line Extension with an Automatic train operation (ATO) system, however delays and technical difficulties meant that a conventional signalling system was hastily installed, and until 2011 the trains were always driven manually by the driver using a
dead man's handle A dead man's switch (see #Alternative names, alternative names) is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from c ...
, also known as the Traction-Brake controller. Eventually, from 2009 a new signalling system was installed by
Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...
, called
SelTrac SelTrac is a digital railway signalling technology used to automatically control the movements of rail vehicles. It was the first fully automatic moving-block signalling system to be commercially implemented. What is now branded as SelTrac wa ...
. Also known as Transmission-based train control, it allows the trains to be operated automatically, with the driver only responsible for opening and closing the doors, and initiating departure. The system uses inductive track loops, placed between the running rails, to communicate with the train. In order to operate with the new signalling system, all 1996 stock underwent modification, which included the installation of two Vehicle On Board Controllers (VOBC), and a new Train Operators Display (TOD) in the cab. From the beginning of January 2011, ATO was introduced on a gradual basis, and since 26 June 2011, the line has been operated entirely under ATO. As a result, the peak service frequency was increased to 27 trains per hour in July 2011, and it has since been increased further to 30 trains per hour.


Roster

*DM – Driving Motor car * T – Trailer (non-powered) car * NDM – Non-Driving Motor car * UNDM – Uncoupling Non-Driving Motor car


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
1996 Tube Stock - Squarewheels.org.uk
{{Jubilee line navbox
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
Train-related introductions in 1997