Tube Travel Has Never Been Cooler


TfL unveils plans to stop passengers breaking out in a sweat

The Hammersmith & City Line is one of four Tube lines set to benefit from air conditioned trains, in plans unveiled by Transport for London today (Tuesday 24 June).

TfL says that from 2010 onwards, the Hammersmith & City, Circle, District and Metropolitan lines will all be fitted with new trains equipped with air-cooling systems.

“It always perplexed me that boffins could produce mobile phones the size of a credit card, yet passengers would emerge dripping with sweat from Tube trains that lacked air conditioning,” said London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson.

However, the prospect of introducing air conditioning on the often swelteringly hot Central Line, appeared less likely: “Cooling the Tube remains a major challenge, especially on the deeper lines such as the Northern and Piccadilly, where we will continue to strive for a solution to the problem,” the Mayor said.

TfL says a number of measures will be introduced to keep passengers cooler this summer: around 40 industrial-sized fans will be used to improve air-flow at key stations, such as Charing Cross, Bond Street and Bank, and a ground water cooling scheme at Victoria Tube station will continue.

TfL says the ground water system, which was first introduced in the summer of 2006, is an environmentally-friendly cooling solution for the Victoria line platforms at Victoria station, using ground water which is already pumped out of the station. According to TfL, the system has improved temperatures in the middle part of the platforms.

In the longer term, a large number of station ventilation shafts and fans, which had fallen into disrepair, are being brought back into service, TfL said.

When the London underground system was constructed, the tunnels were designed and built with only enough space for trains. This means that in the deeper-level Tubes, there is very little space for air-conditioning units on trains and nowhere to release the heat.

 

24 June 2008