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The 1973 Tube Stock operates on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground, and were first introduced in 1975 for the opening of the extension to Heathrow Central (Now Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3).
A total of 88 trains were built 1972-73 by Metro Cammell of Birmingham (now Alstom) and entered service 1975-1977 and later re-furbrished by Bombardier Transportation. They have extra space by the doors to allow for the luggage of passengers travelling to Heathrow Airport. The stock was refurbished in the late 1990s, the last unrefurbished train appearing in passenger service on the 21 August 2000. Like all London Underground trains, they operate on a four-rail 630V DC power system.
The Piccadilly Line's 1973 stock trains are stored in depots at Cockfosters in the north-east and Northfields in the west. They are painted in the London Underground corporate livery - blue, white and red.
The stock is fitted with a non-standard type of Digital Voice Announcer (DVA). Rather than other lines, which use wheel counters or GPS to automatically provide announcements, the 1973 stock announcements must be operated manually by the driver keying in a unique code. This being rather cumbersome, most drivers make their own announcements, if at all.
76 1973 stock trains are required for the peak time Piccadilly Line service.
Each train is made up of two units of three cars:-
DM - T - UDM | UDM - T - DM
Some units are also formed with a second DM in place of the UNDM - these are known as "double ended" units.
A Driving motor car (DM) has a driver's cab and traction equipment. A trailer car (T)has no cab or traction equipment. A Non-driving motor car (UDM) has traction equipment but no driver's cab. It does, however, have control for uncoupling and shunting.
All trains in passenger service operate as two units, trains are only permitted to move as a single unit in depots. However until 1994 one single double ended unit (DM - T - DM) was used to operate the peak-hour Aldwych branch service.
External links
"London Underground 1973 Stock"