Metronet, consisting of five different companies, is the consortium that will be running two-thirds of the Tube network, including the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria lines and the Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City and District lines (sub-surfaces lines).

The agreement was signed this week with London Underground and the consortium is now responsible for upgrading, replacing and maintaining those lines under the Public Private Partnership (PPP). Metronet is planning to invest £17 billion over the 30-year contract, until 2014.

They are promising new trains and signalling and revamped stations. This is what Metronet says:

NEW TRAINS
A fleet of 47 new trains for the Victoria Line will be built by Bombardier Transportation. The first of the eight-car trains will enter service in 2009 and once production begins, a new train will be produced every 15 days and the entire upgrade will be completed by August 2012.

A new fleet of trains will also be built for the Bakerloo Line by 2019.

The Sub Surface Lines will receive 190 new trains, also supplied by Bombardier Transportation, in the first 12 years of the contract. These will replace and enlarge the existing fleets of trains on the Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City and District lines.

The new trains will feature inter-connecting gangways, allowing passengers to walk through the entire train. All the SSL trains will be of the same design, bringing time and cost advantages to management regimes and the procurement of replacement parts.

The new trains, in conjunction with new signalling, will enable vastly improvd journey times.
The first trains will arrive on the Metropolitan Line late in 2009 and will then come off the production line at the rate of one every 10 days.

SIGNALLING
The new signalling systems to be introduced as part of the line upgrades on the Victoria Line and the Sub Surface Lines will include:

New "Distance to Go" Automatic Train Protection signalling
Solid-state interlocking
Improved signalling control
Automatic train operation
Improved system maintenance
Replacement of insulated block joints
More efficient maintenance programme.

EXISTING TRAINS
Metronet will implement an interior improvement package to replace panels and lighting on current fleets and will improve the ventilation systems on the existing District Line trains.
There will be an upgrade programme covering- seat condition, grab poles, interior glass and arm rests.
An enhanced exterior train wash regime will be set up and implemented.

Metronet is committed to increase the number of trains available for service on the Central Line in 2004 and again in 2005, the Bakerloo Line and Victoria Line in 2005.

The Central Line will have seven extra trains in peak service in 2005, delivering a 10 per cent improvement in service levels.

The Waterloo & City Line will have a 20 per cent improvement in the service by 2006 through the introduction of an additional train and signalling improvements, including Automatic Train Protection.

The Victoria Line will have journey times improved by eight per cent by 2005.

The District Line’s fleet of 75 trains will be fitted with new interiors, including improvements to the drivers’ cabs, as well as newly painted exteriors. The first refurbished train will enter service in the Spring of 2004 and the last during 2008.

STATIONS
Metronet plans an enhanced cleaning regime for stations (along with trains) with an initial deep clean.
Metronet will:

Remove graffiti from stations and trains within 24 hours of each incident
Introduce an electronic station management system on all modernised stations
Instal new communications and passenger information systems at all stations in the first period
Improve customer information systems, including new public address and dot matrix indicators
Instal better located, improved and clearer signage, improved lighting and more reliable lifts and escalators
Introduce a more intensive litter-picking regime.
Within the first seven-and-a-half-years a station modernisation and refurbishment programme will be completed, including improved security and passenger information and a reduction of congestion at specified localities.
Altogether 62 of the 66 stations on the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines will be modernised or refurbished along with 70 stations on the Sub Surface Lines.

CIVILS
Metronet is required over seven-and-a-half-years to maintain all assets in a safe condition including tunnels, embankments and bridges, and to survey those assets whose condition is unknown in order to scope the details of the upgrade required.
Over twenty-two-and-a-half-years a comprehensive upgrade of all civils assets will be implemented in order to deal with the maintenance backlog and bring them up to the required standard.
In total, Metronet will be responsible for:
4,800 bridges
1,600 structures
130km of deep tube tunnels
155km of earth structures
225km of track drainage and associated pumps.

TRACK
Metronet will be undertaking major track and signalling renewal in the first 15 years in order to restore the track condition to required benchmarks that will lead to the removal of many speed restrictions.

The majority of this extensive track work has been contracted to Balfour Beatty Rail Projects, who will review track renewal priorities and methodologies to implement best practice industry techniques to improve renewals planning and to target maintenance. The remaining work will be performed by the in-house Trackforce team.

In addition Metronet will introduce improved track installation, monitoring and maintenance by using Ultrasonic Rail Flaw Detection to minimise the occurrence of broken rails.
Over the first seven-and-a-half-years, 185 kilometres of track will be renewed and 166 points and crossings replaced.

Within BCV, 42 kilometres of track along with 66 sets of points and crossings will be renewed during weekends. A further 40 kilometres of track will be renewed overnight during engineering hours – the four hours at night when no passenger trains are running.

Within SSL, 104 kilometres of track will be renewed and 100 sets of points and crossings will be replaced over weekend periods during the first seven-and-a-half-years.
Altogether 346 weekends will be used over the seven-and-a-half-years period, starting with 16 weekends in the first year, building up to 80 weekend locations in each of years five and six.

Metronet Web site