New tube for London stock

Diverging slightly, having looked at the TfL powerpoint from the FoI reply, slide 20 shows a three-car "unit" being transported by road. I wonder if the inner ends of each three-car unit will have some kind of shunt control, or will there never be a need to split trains?

The Victoria Line trains were also built to remain together for life. The problem with splitting a new Picc train into three units is that the even-numbered cars have no wheels, hanging from the odd-numbered cars either side. The middle 3-cars have therefore no wheels on the outer cars, and will need some means of support before the adjacent car can be removed.

Those were conventional gangways not the fully car body width walk through carriages we are talking about here.

A couple of comments on posts above.

1) The PPP neither encouraged, nor discouraged the space train concept. The solution was left in the hands of bidders. The bidders for the sub surface PPP offered what became S stock from the beginning. The BCV bidder - the same consortium - didn't feel confident to offer the change in train configuration reqired for a fleet that had to be fully in service so soon after the PPP contract was placed. It has taken over 15 years for London Underground, its bidders and now Siemens to explore and evaluate options which have resulted in 2024 tube stock - potential suppliers were brought into LU's thinking in circa 2008/9.
2) Standards and legislation did have an influence on the development of open walk though trains, but these were mainly fire standards. Clearly the vehicles have to be structurally sound

I didn't know they go that short.

Does a coded track circuit really function that short - I mean isn't the train on to the next track before that train has responded ?

I did indeed immediately think why not a spot loop than a very short track circuit but then again this lies outside my domain; bit surprised to know of this at White City as I was at Wood Lane for 8 y but on a different part of the whole CL ATO system.

The photos I saw, and also the info in the FoI response, suggests that the trains will be made up of two three-car sections, the middle car of each three-car unit being supported by the cars either side of it. Splitting into two-car sections seems not to have been part of the plan.

Negative; it was a temporary arrangement during the P&C renewal at the West end of the station in 2011. It was only in place for a few weeks, and was carefully positioned so that no train ever ran over it in normal operation!

It was a P&C track (which would have required a code loop; I don't think we provided the code loop.

Slide 14 shows a complete train with the WUW continuing throughout the train and the bogies only under the W cars. Unfortunately, the raised platform obscures the middle 3-car section to prove the point, but the unwheeled cars are much shorter with no room for two bogies.

This does show that the new train requires a long raised platform, not where the current raised section is laid, but overlapping with it. This suggests a programme of raising platforms will be necessary at some time, probably affecting the current raised sections. So when will this be done? When all the old trains have gone, or at the half-way stage?

Afterthought: The Picc trains turn on the Heathrow loop, so are the current raised platforms as shown, so only suit half the trains, or are they provided at both ends of the platform? That would mean raising the middle of the platform, together with the current raised sections, would raise most  of the length of each platform!

What an interesting article, from the engineering point of view.

As regards the previous discussion, this bit is interesting: "Floor height at doorway thresholds will be 700mm which is higher than the standard 520mm platform height".

Trains specifically designed for the Piccadilly line don't fit the platforms. Brilliant.

I wonder if the wheels will be the right distance apart..?

The original video on NTFL foresaw all the platform heights being slightly raised didn't it? Is this no-longer happening or did I misunderstand the meaning of what's going on at 1:40 in the video?

The 24TS is not composed of three car subunits, or subunits of any other length. It is a single nine car train, alternating between "Key" cars with bogies, and intermediate cars without. The 24TS is never intended to be split up after it leaves the factory. All trains will travel from the factory to London by rail in nine car units.
The three car train on a low loader was a one off trip to the climate testing chamber, before that train had been fully assembled.

Delivering railway rolling stock by rail?

How archaic.

Yes, they're coming through the tunnel, then onwards to a tube depot entirely by rail. I won't say anymore about the route as they're expected to be a target for vandalism.