Originally setting up shop as the ‘Baker Street and Waterloo Railway’, London’s legendary Bakerloo Line has been ferrying folk around the capital city for around 120 years now. Home to the oldest operational fleet of passenger trains in the UK (which have been paying their dues since 1972, might I add); it’s high time that our beloved brown line was given some well-deserved TLC. And it seems as though Transport for London agree, as a rather hefty step chug has recently been taken in the direction of the line’s long-awaited upgrade.
The Bakerloo line upgrade
Last week, TfL officially published a ‘preliminary market engagement notice’, inviting contractors and private companies to bid for the job of giving the Bakerloo line its impending glow-up. The work outlined in the notice included rebuilding the Bakerloo train depot at Stonebridge Park, expanding the depot next to Queen’s Park, modifying the existing London Road Sidings (to accommodate for longer trains), and upgrading the lineside equipment along the entire length of the tracks.
The notice also gave us a rough idea of when we can expect to be hopping aboard shiny new Bakerloo line trains. And unfortunately, folks – it won’t be for the best part of a decade. If all goes to plan, work will begin on the line in July 2027 and be completed at the end of 2034. This means that new trains are unlikely to hit the track before 2035.
The new trains in question haven’t been ordered yet (despite TfL supposedly putting £1 billion aside for them in a recent business plan). A fleet of 36 new Bakerloo line trains are set to be ordered once the fleet of 94 new walk-through, air-conditioned Piccadilly line trains are delivered.
You can read TfL’s preliminary market engagement notice for the upcoming Bakerloo line works here.