Fate Of Chinese-Built Wagons For LU Still Unclear

It's almost two years since the first CRRC-built wagons cars for London Underground arrived in the UK. However, it is still unknown how the approval process is proceeding, let alone when operations will begin... We asked LU in April 2022:

- how the certification of these CRRC wagons continues?
- when do you expect they will certified?
- when do you expect they will start regular operation?
- how many wagons of both types arrived in UK until now?
- how many wagons of both types have been built so far?
- do you have fresh photos from testing?

LU replied at the time: "We have checked with the team who work in this area and they have told that we’re still in commercial negotiations regarding these wagons, so it would not be appropriate to answer questions about them at the moment.We are sorry we can’t be of more help. We don’t currently have an indication of how long these negotiations will take. Please do check in with us in a few months and we can let you know if we’re able to provide comment yet. If things move on in the meantime we can of course let you know."

So we asked LU in July how the situation had changed in the last quarter of a year. LU replied: "Thank you for your email. My colleague has been in contact with the team handling this and has been told that commercial negotiations are still ongoing and are likely to continue until at least October. So we are not able to provide further comment on the wagons until this date. Apologies for not being able to help more at this time, but if there are any development in this before October, we will let you know."

So it will be interesting to see when this 2017 contract will be finished. At that time, the CRRC press release stated: „These wagons will be in service in 2019. ... The order is the first for UK rolling stock that has been won by CRRC and paves the way for CRRC to tackle wider opportunities, such as bidding to take part in the UK's High Speed 2 project.“