The London Underground is the world’s oldest subway, and its age showed. After years of underinvestment leading to a “fix and mend” maintenance approach, the tangle of tunnels and rails beneath the city needed a massive financial infusion and a commitment to a systemwide overhaul. The solution: a unique public-private partnership between the Underground and Tube Lines, a consortium created for the project.
Formed by two companies with extensive rail experience—Bechtel and Spanish-owned Amey—Tube Lines is responsible for upgrading the Jubilee, Northern, and Piccadilly lines, which account for nearly 40 percent of the Underground’s 358 kilometers (222 miles).
All three lines are storied sections of the Underground, which began serving Londoners 140 years ago. The Northern Line traces its roots to the City and South London Railway—the world’s first electric deep-level tube line—which opened in 1890. The Piccadilly Line opened in 1906. The Jubilee Line is the youngest part of the system, but serves stations that first opened more than a century ago.
The project includes the modernization of 251 trains, 100 stations, 187 miles of track, 2,395 bridges and other structures, 227 escalators, and 71 elevators, as well as the installation of a new signaling system.
The Bechtel-led team will design and build more than 300 capital upgrade projects. For more information, see the November 2004 Bechtel Briefs.
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