19.10.15
Brush Traction bags £6.5m Piccadilly Line traction motor repair contract
Wabtec UK owned Brush Traction has bagged a London Underground contract worth up to £6.5m to refurbish and fit the train motors for the Piccadilly Line.
The LT130 motors from the current Piccadilly Line fleet will be taken from the Cockfosters depot in London to Loughborough to be repaired, cleaned and painted.
This will ensure that the Loughborough manufacturer prepares the line for the first batch of modern, air-cooled ‘New Tube for London’ trains, set to be introduced from around 2023. The invitation to tender for the new Tube fleet has been delayed until December this year.
Nick Brown, LU’s managing director, who announced the contract during a visit to the factory floor with Loughborough’s Nicky Morgan MP, said: “Brush Traction is playing an important role in the modernisation of London’s transport network and is helping us to meet the unprecedented demand created by the city’s success and rapid population growth.
“Suppliers like them keep London working and growing and help us to support the national economy.”
The contract will run for three years with an optional two-year extension, and has been described by Wabtec’s managing director, Chris Weatherall, as the largest traction motor refurbishment contract it has received from Transport for London in recent years.
The awarded contract builds on Transport for London’s initiative to take in suppliers based outside London in an effort to extend jobs beyond the local supply chain.
According to its figures, nearly 20,000 jobs have been supported in the Midlands and around 60% of its expenditure is spent with suppliers located outside the capital.
After Brown’s visit to the factory, he also held an event at Loughborough University to meet other potential suppliers from the region.
(Top image, left to right: Tom Guy [business unit manager at Brush Traction], Nick Brown [LU managing director] and Nicky Morgan [MP for Loughborough], c. Transport for London)