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Back in December we reported that the Piccadilly line, suffering from a shortage of trains, would be part-suspended until mid-January. Today – January 15, pretty much slap-bang the middle of Jan – we’ve had further bad news: the line will remain partially closed until the end of the month.
The Piccadilly is running short on trains due to higher-than-usual levels leaf-fall in late autumn, which in turn damaged the wheels of some trains and forced them to be taken out of service. The navy blue line is currently suspended between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge, and is running a reduced service between Acton Town and Rayners Lane.
Currently the Piccadilly line only has 60 trains in use, which is 15 fewer than it needs to run a full service. The BBC, investigating the leaf-fall damage, revealed that nearly all of the service’s 50-year-old trains were damaged and that it takes around a day to repair one train.
TfL now says that the Piccadilly will now be in full service by late January.
Time Out and the Piccadilly line
Its part-suspension aside, the Piccadilly line is currently in a state of flux. The service is currently in the midst of a series of closures lasting six whole months (find all the dates and affected stations here), which is in preparation for the line’s upcoming brand-new air-conditioned, walk-through trains.
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