Exclusive first ride on London's futuristic new Piccadilly line trains

After 50 years the Piccadilly line is finally getting a makeover. These are the new trains that could really change your commute. It looks completely different. It will be absolutely transformative. Oh you feel the acceleration there. It's pushing the limits of innovation. It's going to be one of the most modern trains in the world. It felt different, different vibe. To understand why we need new Piccadilly Line trains we need to go out on the old ones. Some of them have been in service since before some of you were born. They were introduced in the mid-1970s and I'm afraid They're showing their age. They are hot, they're noisy, and they need refurbishing, or in this case, replacing. And because they've been absolute workhorses for London, they have been really, really good, transported millions of people, now because they're getting a bit older, they're becoming a little bit more unreliable, and that's one thing you don't want. That's why we need new stock. We're here on South Ealing station, it's first thing in the morning about 8am and they are just starting to do the testing on these four trains. We've got Eric here, got a camera on his head. The last video we did we got a lot of questions about why we wear this very attractive high vis. The reason is it is a legal requirement on work sites where any work is going on you have to wear No one looks good in it. Well, Eric does with his helmet cam. Maybe. What difference will it make for commuters that don't realise this is just around the corner? Oh, it will be absolutely transformative. This is a state-of-the-art train. It comes with novel technology that's never been seen on a D Tube before. Right, we're going to get on. It's got these very striking bright LED lights at the front and a kind of halo light around it. It looks like something out of Star Wars. Here we go, the new Piccadilly Line train. First impressions, nicely lit. Very spacious. Oh and look at these, they've got all kinds of LED advertising, destination boards, all very high-tech. And you can feel the, it's a bit cooler in here I think, and that's because they've got air cooling or air conditioning. See right down to the end of the train and the driver's cab. So this is the driver's cab. I'm the train staff person in charge of this train, it's my train. So I'm charged with its movements, it's stabling, running and safety on the train. A lot bigger than the old cabs, twice the size. It's pushing the limits of innovation for rolling stock. So obviously a lot of teething troubles I suppose you call them, we're getting over them. Obviously we make sure they're right for the service. But if you push innovation you're gonna be having a few little issues. There's no doubt that there's been a lot of hype for these new trains. But one question has remained. The latest news from TfL is, you're gonna have to wait a bit more time. Where have they been? We were supposed to get them in late 2025. So I wanted to know why they've taken so long to get on the tracks. These trains are the latest, highest tech design we've ever had on the tube network. Andy Lord is the transport commissioner for TfL, the boss of the entire transport network. in London. They're extremely complex particularly because of having to integrate air conditioning in very tight spaces. So there have been some initial design challenges on that. We're working really hard to get them in sometime between December and next summer. The train is about to move. Did you hear that? The train's about to move. Here we go. Oh you feel the acceleration there. A lot quicker than the normal Piccadilly Line train. Really fast off the mark. Gets up to speed quick. That's impressive actually, it's going to take some getting used to and we're up quite quick to cruising speed. There's a fly on here as well that's just got on at South Ealing and it's going to find itself in Acton Town and a bit confused. Also it's a lot quieter than normal, that's obviously part of the design as well. It's going to be one of the most modern trains. In the world, when it comes into service, that's why they've had these teething problems. The original budget of £2.9 billion has also increased to £3.4 billion to pay for new depots and additional work across the line. Some of the sections of the Piccadilly line opened over 100 years ago, so we need to do some major infrastructure upgrades in order to enable it for this wonderful new train that we've got coming. So there's platform works, there's new CCTV cameras that are going up across all the stations. So I don't think Londoners will realise that you're trying to change the railway while it's still operating. Absolutely. We've got power upgrades at the substations dotted all the way along the Piccadilly line that we need to upgrade to make sure the power for the new train is ready and obviously we need to keep the railway running during the week for our customers. We're about to finish our journey on these new trains. Here we are coming into Acton Town. Oh, there's people taking photographs of the new train. Before we went, I couldn't help but think about some of London's other lines. Could the equally as old Bakerloo Line stock get a facelift too? We're already starting conversations with Siemens about confirming the orders for the Bakerloo Line. I would love to do that by the end of this year if possible, but we need to just iron out a few final things on the Piccadilly Line first. So it sounds like it's going to happen, the Bakerloo Line new train? Yeah, I'm very confident it will. We got the money from government, or funding from government, as part of our CSR back in June last year. So we have the funding available. Obviously there's a lot going on in the world economically and that sort of thing, so we need to take account of that. I'm pretty confident we'll be ordering those trains at some point in the next six to 12 months. Right, we're getting off. Thanks guys. Thanks guys. Guys. And that was it. That was our little trip on the new Piccadilly Line trains. Very exciting.