UK: The mock-up was shown to London Mayor Sadiq Khan as part of his visit to the Siemens Mobility plant under construction in Goole. It is planned to produce 47 Inspiro trains at the site. Investments in the creation of the plant amounted to about €240 mln. It is expected that its launch, scheduled for 2023, will create 700 jobs.
At the same time, as Sadiq Khan noted, the implementation of the contract for the trains delivery to the London Underground could be called into question if the government refuses to provide long-term funding to the TfL transport authority of London, which is now suffering losses due to the pandemic.
Mock-up of the Inspiro metro train car at the Siemens Mobility plant in Goole. Source: reddit.com
The new generation of Inspiro metro cars will be based on an articulated design that uses fewer bogies, reducing the train’s weight and making it more energy efficient. Modern traction systems and an improved energy management system should allow for a 20% reduction in energy consumption compared to the fleet currently in operation. Nine-car trains with a through passage assume a passenger capacity of more than 1,000 people and, at the same time, must be capable of accelerating to 100 km/h. In addition, the new trains will include air-conditioning systems that allow running on deep lines.
TfL and Siemens Mobility signed a contract in November 2018 for €1.5 bln for the delivery 94 metro trains, half of which are to be produced at a plant in the UK, the rest at a plant in Vienna. The order is the first step in the Deep Tube programme, which is acquiring more than 200 metro trains to renew London’s aging fleet of four lines. The first Inspiro trains are due to be delivered to the metro in 2025.
Inspiro metro train cabin. Source: reddit.com
According to Metro Report International, in January this year, TfL due to the Covid-19 pandemic asked Siemens to make a number of changes to the design of the head cars (for example, to increase the driver’s cab to maintain social distance between the driver and instructor), which led to an increase contract value for €40 mln.
