Balfour Beatty bags £50m contract for Piccadilly line upgrade

British construction firm Balfour Beatty has won a contract worth £50 million to execute essential upgrade works to the Piccadilly line of London Underground.

The contract is the first of various packages to be awarded under the new ‘London Underground High Voltage (HV) Power framework’. Balfour Beatty was appointed for the same earlier this year.

According to Balfour Beatty, the framework of the Piccadilly line upgrade contract will be for a period of six years and can be possibly extended by an additional two years.

Under the London Underground contract, Balfour Beatty will be handling the design, supply, and installation of new assets along the Piccadilly underground line to underpin the increase in ‘Traction Power’ needed to run the next generation of trains which will be brought into service from 2025.

Balfour Beatty bags £50m London Underground contract for Piccadilly line upgrade. Photo courtesy of Chris Sampson/Wikipedia.org.

The British construction company is expected to begin the works this month with an aim to wrap them in 2025. At the peak of construction of the Piccadilly line upgrade, Balfour Beatty will deploy nearly 80 people.

Upon completion of the essential upgrade works, the scheme will also help in increasing the capacity on the Piccadilly line by 23% at the busiest times, with new, longer trains planned to run every 135 seconds from 2027.

Balfour Beatty’s scope in the Piccadilly line upgrade contract includes the renewal and replacement of aging assets like high voltage and low voltage switchboards as well as new HV Cables at various substations across the Piccadilly line including Cockfosters, Northfields, Hyde Park Corner, Leicester Square, and Sudbury Hill.

Matthew Steele — Balfour Beatty Rail and Utilities Managing Director, commenting on the London Underground contract, said: “This latest contract award is a significant achievement, building on our 19-year relationship with London Underground. It is testament to our unrivalled capability and deep domain knowledge in delivering underground rail works.

“Once complete, the programme will transform travel for thousands of passengers each day and ensure that the London Underground can continue to run a reliable and safe service for many more years to come.”