London's Tube trains to get a cool makeover

Underground to get air conditioning for first time, starting in 2010

Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, unveils the new air conditioned tube carriages that will be used on the Metropolitan Line from 2010 and the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City from 2011.

updated 12:42 p.m. ET Sept. 25, 2008

LONDON - Riding the London Underground is getting cooler, literally.

Tube trains are to get air conditioning for the first time, and London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled an example of the new train model on Thursday.

The new air-conditioned trains will serve the Underground's Metropolitan line beginning in 2010 and additional lines after that. They are all expected to be up and running by 2015. The lines where the trains will be operating make up about 40 percent of the Underground network.

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"I can assure passengers who will use them that we hope, rather than arriving at their destinations drenched in perspiration, they will emerge cool as cucumbers and ready to enjoy all that the capital offers," Johnson said.

The Underground is nearly 150 years old. The new trains will be added to the oldest parts of the subway system. They are being added as part of a 3 billion pound (about $US5.5 billion) upgrade.

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