This week, Minister for Industry Lee Rowley saw first-hand the manufacturing process for a brand-new innovative cooling system for TfL’s tube network that will help mitigate platform temperature rises as train frequency is increased.
The Minister was shown the new system by Ray Woolley, MD of family run business Direct Engineering in Chesterfield with designers Anthony Adamson and Vas Vernikos of SRC Infrastructure.
The Cooling Panel project is funded by Transport for London, the Department for Transport and Innovate UK as part of the TIES Living Lab programme.
The goal for TfL is firstly to enhance the cooling capacity of the Piccadilly line, so that it can run more trains per hour, the cooling panels are an integral part of this plan. TfL is also looking to possibly expand this to other areas of the London Underground network to help combat platform temperatures. The imaginative design of the cooling panels, involving a curved radiator with internal cooling pipework and forced air distribution means that once testing is complete TfL will look to use them in a live environment. The approach piloted by Living Lab, which uses benchmarking to demonstrate the value of new innovations over traditional practices will improve the value for money of taxpayer investment.
Chris Ashcroft, Programme Delivery Manager at Transport for London, said: “By working proactively, TIES Living Lab has helped us explore more innovative solutions that are economic and efficient, consider how we can use new technology to help achieve our carbon neutral goals and work with a range of suppliers.
The Cooling Panel project is supporting the Piccadilly Line Upgrade, which will introduce new state-of-the-art trains with more space, air-conditioning, walk-through carriages and improved accessibility. By finding innovative solutions to cool our platforms, we’ll be able to support our future Piccadilly line train frequency increases. This is a great example of joint working with the DfT and we hope more of this kind of innovative partnership working will be possible.”
Ray Woolley, MD Direct Engineering and manufacturer of the Cooling Panels said, “The Minister wanted to understand more about the manufacturing process for the cooling panels for London’s tube network. It’s a project that we are proud to be part of with the SRC Infrastructure designers.”
Anthony Adamson, project leader for the TIES Living Lab Cooling Panels and Portfolio Delivery Manager, SRC Infrastructure and project said, “After years of being a Londoner and commuting on the tube, I am delighted to be part of this brand new tech solution designed to cool the airflow on platforms which will vastly improving the travel experience for passengers like me”.