There's plenty of new tech inside TfL's new trains, but we're most excited for the cooling systems. Goodbye, Central line sauna...
Transport for London has just unveiled its vision for the future of London's Underground rail system.
The organisation has proposed 250 new Tube trains sporting a more 21st Century design, with hopes to roll-out the service by 2020.
The future-friendly tubes will tout walk-through carriages, built-in air cooling systems, a more reliable signalling system, and higher capacity.
TfL wants to use the new trains across four of the London Underground lines, namely Bakerloo, Central, Piccadilly, and Waterloo & City.
These lines are amongst the capital's oldest and busiest, so it's no surprise the city's transport office is keen to give them a boon.
All of the aforementioned lines will be receiving the exact same train design, in hopes to deal with the expected growth of London's population from 8.4 million to a predicted 10 million by 2030.
These beauties can't come soon enough...
According to TfL, the new trains will allow 25% capacity increases on the Central and Bakerloo lines, 50% on the Waterloo & City line, and an incredible 60% on the Picadilly line.
The latter's carrying boost is equivalent to somewhere around 19,000 extra customers an hour. Crampalicious.
Considering the Piccadilly line serves 210 million customers every year, TfL's decided to sort it out first - especially since demand for the super-central line is expected to grow by 20% over the next six years.
TfL hopes the new service will shuttle along Londoners with great success right up to the 2060s and beyond.
"We are making sure our trains will be future-proof as they'll start to be rolled out by the mid 2020s and will last at least 40 years," reckons the services.
TfL's new tubes will also be completely driverless eventually, although you won't be seeing any ghost trains immediately at launch.
"The trains will be designed and built to be capable of fully automatic operation," explains TfL.
"When the trains first enter service, they will have an operator on board. We would only consider implementing full automation following extensive engagement with our customers, stakeholders, staff and trade unions."
Excited? Us too. Check out TfL's neat teaser trailer for the new tube trains below:
