For regulars on the Piccadilly line, things have been a little rocky lately. The western part of the line has been closed between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge for a number of weeks, and TfL have now said this is set to continue until the end of the month. Previously, it was thought that it would be part-suspended until the middle of January.
Issues on the line have been caused by leaves falling onto the track which caused damage to the wheels of the trains. This is said to have begun in November when storms led to an influx of leaves hitting the tracks and led the 50-year-old trains to skid, which in turn led to them needing to go out of service causing a shortage of trains and delays on the line.
Now we’re looking at a late-January date for services to return to normal, with a reduced service still running and the closures between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge remaining in place.
Speaking on the situation in an email to passengers last month, TfL said: “Conditions this year have been particularly challenging, with leaves staying on trees for longer than usual, before falling rapidly during recent storms. This has meant that despite efforts to manage services during times of particularly high leaf fall, we now have fewer trains available than are needed to run a reliable service.
“The existing train fleet is nearly 50 years old, and a number of these trains can no longer be used. This means that from January 2025, we will be required to operate the Piccadilly line with slightly fewer trains.”
The Piccadilly line and Bakerloo line are thought to be the only two types of trains on the London Underground that lack ‘wheel slide protection’. There is, of course, the beginning of the new Piccadilly line trains on the horizon, which will eventually bring 94 new modes onto the service which will help with the frequency of trains, but we’re still a while away from this project’s full completion.
Piccadilly line trains will not run to full capacity until the end of the month. The line is closed between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge Lane, and a reduced service is operating between Acton Town and Rayners Lane (trains every 15 minutes).