London Underground goes LED

It was mentioned at the Lighting for Rail Conference 2014 that Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street and Victoria stations will be 100% LED when re-modelling work has finished.

The lighting for the underground stations were initially designed several years ago as part of redevelopment plans – at this time they were then designed to be fitted with fluorescents. Engineering Manager for the London Underground, Bob Benn, said:

We were basically dealing with an obsolete design. We’ve managed to change it all to LED lighting but that’s been a major challenge in London Underground in order to get that through the system.

Changing the original specification to LED means London Underground will save money on energy and maintenance despite a higher upfront cost. The high cost of maintenance in busy and hard to access underground stations means that the long life products practically pay for themselves. Benn said:

From the point of view of whole-life cost, we’re very aware of the reduced maintenance of new technology.

Tube Stations will continue to be upgraded in preparation for Crossrail. Bond Street station is due to be finished in 2017 whereas Victoria and Tottenham Court Road will not finish till 2018.