London Underground and TfL

New Overground rolling stock contract to be approved

Transport for London (TfL) is set to choose the supplier for a new fleet of electric units for London Overground routes this week, after revealing the four shortlisted bidders last year. 

At the organisation’s Finance and Policy Committee meeting on Wednesday (17 June), the committee is being requested to approve entering into contract with one of: Bombardier, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), Hitachi or Siemens. 

The identity of the winning bidder is being kept under wraps, and codenamed ‘Paddington’ for the purposes of the board paper. The contract is in the form of a “Manufacturing and Supply Agreement (MSA) and a Train Services Agreement (TSA) in relation to new rolling stock for London Overground”. 

Tenders for the new Overground rolling stock – the LOTRAIN Project – comprise the design, manufacturing, commissioning, entry into service and ongoing maintenance of 45 new EMUs to support the following London Overground Programmes: 

(a) Gospel Oak – Barking Capacity Increase following electrification of the line by Network Rail (NR) in mid-2017 (eight four-car trains);

(b) West Anglia Route (Devolution) Programme including Romford-Upminster, which transferred the contracting of train services between Liverpool Street –Chingford / Cheshunt / Enfield Town from the Department for Transport (DfT) to TfL from 31 May 2015 (31 x four-car trains); and

(c) London Overground Frequency Increase Programme, which enhances the current eight trains per hour (tph) on the North London Line (NLL) to 10tph and increases service resilience on the East London Line (ELL) (six four-car trains). 

It was also noted that priced options are included in the MSA for up to 249 cars for train lengthening to five car and/or additional trains for possible future schemes including:

(a) Barking Riverside; (b) Stratford – Angel Road; and (c) 4tph Euston – Watford, 5tph Gospel Oak – Barking. Options may be exercised by TfL at any time up to November 2019. 

On 31 May 2015, TfL took over the responsibility for contracting services to operate on the West Anglia routes between Liverpool Street –Chingford / Cheshunt / Enfield Town as well as the Romford – Upminster branch. These routes form part of the London Overground network and will initially be operated by London Overground Rail Operations Limited (LOROL), the current London Overground operator. The board will be told that part of TfL’s aspiration to upgrade the quality of services provided on these routes, in line with the high standards offered on the rest of the London Overground network, it is the intention to replace the current 30-year-old rolling stock (Class 315/317) as soon as the new trains are delivered in 2018. 

Key LOTRAIN procurement milestones are listed below:

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