The 180 million passengers who use the Victoria line each year are now being served by a full fleet of brand new trains, following the successful phasing out of the old 1960's stock.
"It is fitting that as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Victoria line being completed to Brixton we now have such a huge improvement for passengers in the form of a fleet of new trains running virtually every two minutes."
David Waboso
London Underground's Capital Programmes Director

It is fitting that as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Victoria line being completed to Brixton we now have such a huge improvement for passengers in the form of a fleet of new trains running virtually every two minutes.

The new higher capacity trains are more accessible with wider doors and more spaces for wheelchair users, and on-board audio and visual electronic information for hard of hearing and visually impaired passengers.

They also feature CCTV in every carriage and are a crucial part of the upgrade of the line.

Once work to remove the old signalling is complete next year the upgrade will mean a 21 per cent increase in capacity - the equivalent of space for an extra 10,000 passengers per hour.

The completion of the roll-out of the new stock comes forty years after the Victoria line was completed from Victoria to Brixton in July 1971.

The line was the first automated train line in the world and, with its ticket barriers and special new ticket machines - it was ahead of its time. 

The first section of it opened in September 1968 from Walthamstow Central through to Highbury & Islington. 

The second section which included King's Cross St. Pancras, Euston and Warren Street, opened in December 1968.

The line was officially opened in March 1969 when the line arrived at Oxford Circus, Green Park and Victoria Underground stations - declared open by the Queen who travelled in the driver's cab as well as sitting in a Tube train carriage.

However the Victoria line was not completed through to Vauxhall, Stockwell and Brixton until two years later.

David Waboso, London Underground's Capital Programmes Director said: 'This is an upgrade we have inherited from the PPP, which we have managed so it is now well ahead of its contractual schedule of being completed by 2013. 

'It is fitting that as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Victoria line being completed to Brixton we now have such a huge improvement for passengers in the form of a fleet of new trains running virtually every two minutes.

'In two months we will be running an additional two trains per hour for a large part of the week, with further increases to come starting next spring when we'll be running 30 trains every hour ahead of the Olympics. When the upgrade is complete we will have provided capacity for an additional ten thousand passengers each hour - meaning better, less crowded, journeys.'

Cooling the deep level Tube lines is a huge challenge that TfL continues to face - especially with the Victoria line, which is the only line on the network that is entirely underground from end to end and which had suffered from under-investment in ventilation fans to move the warm air to the surface.

 On the deep-level lines, which are unique to London, the heat generated by trains has been passing into the tunnels and the clay surrounding them for many years, meaning the tunnels retain heat.

They were also built with only enough room for trains and with no space for air-conditioning outside the trains, and very little inside without sacrificing seats.

Work to double the capacity of the fans at all the main ventilations shafts serving the Victoria line is due to be completed later this year.

A total of eleven fans have already been completed and the work on the final two is currently underway.

The new Victoria line trains are now operating an environmentally friendly regenerative braking system, which returns power to the rails while the train is braking so that other nearby trains can use it for accelerating.

This will also reduce the amount of heat that is generated.

However, at present there is no one cost-effective short term solution for cooling the Tube.

TfL is looking to the future and working with the train industry to develop the next generation of Tube trains, with the aim of making them lighter so that that they generate less heat and include space so that a cooling solution could possibly be implemented.

Notes to Editors

  • For more information on the Tube upgrade plan go to tfl.gov.uk/tubeupgradeplan
  • TfL is working hard to keep disruption to a minimum and to provide information and alternative travel options. Londoners and visitors to the city are urged to 'check before you travel', particularly at weekends, and to allow extra journey time where necessary
  • TfL's range of Travel Tools help passengers plan journeys, get travel information on the move and work out the best way home
  • tfl.gov.uk/tfl/traveltools  The website also provides full information on bus replacement services during works
  • Apart from the TfL website tfl.gov.uk/check passengers can check before travelling via the following options:
    • The London Travel Info 24hrs telephone helpline: 0843 222 1234
    • Information on posters, leaflets and 'service information' boards at Tube stations
    • Via free mobile and email alerts, available from the TfL website
    • The last station to be completed on the Victoria line was Pimlico on 14 September 1972
    • All Victoria line stations have platform humps apart from Pimlico