The London Underground 1996 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the Jubilee line of the London Underground. The trains were built by GEC Alsthom-Metro-Cammell and entered service in 1997. They are similar to the 1995 Stock used on the Northern line.
The original 59 trains were initially built as 6-car trains. In 2005, an additional trailer car was added to lengthen each train to 7-cars and four additional 7-car trains delivered, bringing the total to 63 7-car trains.
History
The 1996 stock was ordered for the opening of the Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) from Green Park to Stratford. The original plan was to heavily refurbish the original 1983 stock with similar exteriors and interiors to the 1996 stock, and replace the single-leaf doors with double doors, but this proved too expensive and was abandoned. Delays in the construction of the JLE meant that the 1996 stock entered service on the existing Jubilee line, replacing the 1983 stock, well before the JLE was opened. The first train was delivered in July 1996, entering service on 24 December 1997, with the final train entering service on 31 July 2001, although it was several months later than the rest of the fleet had entered service.
The development of the 1995 stock and the 1996 stock were conducted in parallel. Detailed design was done by Alstom at its Washwood Heath and Rugby facilities, and the first six train sets were manufactured at Alstom's Barcelona factory to the 1996 stock design. All type approvals were conducted on these early train sets. The 1995 stock was produced in the Barcelona factory afterwards, and the balance of the 1996 stock followed. Final assembly and equipping was at Alstom's facility at Washwood Heath on adjacent production lines.
Overview
The 1996 Stock has an identical exterior car body to the 1995 Stock, but the two rolling stocks have different interiors, seating layouts and cabs (designed by Warwick Design Consultants), traction packages and train management systems, and slight differences in tripcock geometry. 1995 Stock uses LED body-side lights, 1996 Stock filament bulbs. The most apparent difference is the bogie: 1996 Stock uses an Alstom bogie with a rubber suspension, 1995 Stock has AdTranz bogies with air suspension to cope with the arduous track conditions of the underground portions of the Northern line. The main technical differences arose because 1996 Stock was designed for "cheapest first cost", while 1995 Stock was designed for "life cycle cost", as Alstom had won the contract to act as the service provider and maintainer of this stock. Alstom subsequently won the maintenance contract for 1996 Stock, to be carried out at the new Stratford Market Depot in East London.
The 1996 Stock was delivered as six-car trains, with two three-car units coupled together, each consisting of a Driving Motor car [DM], a Trailer car [T] and an Uncoupling Non-Driving Motor car [UNDM]. The standard train formation was . Twelve later trailer cars had de-icing equipment; these are referred to as De-Icing Trailer cars [DIT].
The cars are odd-numbered at one end of the train, even numbers at the other. Each number has five digits: the first two are the stock type (96); the third refers to the car type: 0 or 1 for DM, 2 or 3 for T, 4 or 5 for UNDM, 6 or 7 for ST (special trailers added in 2005) and 8 or 9 for DIT. Thus, for example, a six-car train set would be 96001, 96201, 96401, 96402, 96202, 96002.
Addition of seventh car
Following implementation of the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) on the Underground in 2003, Tube Lines planned to increase capacity on the Jubilee line by extending trains to 7 carriages. This would increase train capacity by 17%. The 1996 Stock had been future-proofed with the ability to add a seventh car, with platforms already long enough for seven-car trains and the platform-edge doors at the Jubilee Line Extension stations had been built with extra space.