1996 Stock

The London Underground 1996 stock is a type of rolling stock used on the Jubilee line of the London Underground. The trains were built by GEC Alsthom-Metro Cammell (now Alstom) and entered service in 1997. The trains are very similar to the 1995 Stock used on the Northern line

The original 59 trains were initially operated in a 6-car formation, however in 2005 an additional trailer car was added to lengthen each train to 7 cars. At the same time, four additional 7-car trains were ordered, bringing the total to 63 7-car trains.

The 1995 Stock replaced the 1959 and 1972 Stock trains. The 106 six-car trains were built by GEC Alsthom (later Alstom) at their plant in Washwood Heath, Birmingham, although the bodyshells were manufactured in and imported from Spain. Each train is made up of two three-car units, coupled together, with each unit consisting of a Driving Motor car (DM), a Trailer car (T) and an Uncoupling Non-Driving Motor car (UNDM). The six-car trains are therefore formed DM-T-UNDM+UNDM-T-DM. Some trailer cars are equipped with a de-icing tank and applicators, in order to spray de-icing fluid on the current-collection rails; these cars are distinguished by a small circle after their car number.

Construction began in 1996, with one car going on public display as part of the Lord Mayor's Show on 9 November 1996. The first train was delivered to Ruislip Depot on 20 December 1996, and testing began in early 1997. The trains entered passenger service between 12 June 1998 and 10 April 2001.

New trains in the form of 1995 Stock were built as replacements for both the 1959 stock and the 30 trains of 1972 stock also operating on the Northern line. Originally it had been planned to keep the 1972 stock running with the new trains, with the same extensive refurishment as done to the 1972 stock on the Bakerloo line, but after one trial refurbishment of a Northern line 1972 stock carriage it was decided that it would be more cost-effective in the long run to have the line operated by one type of train only. Withdrawal of the 1959 Stock was a drawn-out affair, and when the last example was withdrawn on 28 January 2000, it was the only remaining tube train to be crewed with a motorman and a guard. One unit was repainted in "heritage" red and cream livery in 1990 to commemorate the line's 100th anniversary. One trailer forms part of the Central Line Sandite train, the other cars were 1962 stock.

Starting in 2013, the 1995 Stock underwent refurbishment, some 15 years after being introduced. Internally, new flooring was fitted, with contrasting colours in the doorways, and the yellow grab rails were re-painted dark blue. The new standard London Underground "Barman" moquette was also introduced, and wheelchair backboards were installed in the trailer cars. The external door open/close buttons were plated over, and the internal buttons were replaced by a visual door open/close warning light. The windows were polished to remove graffiti, and the external livery was re-applied.

The refurbishment was carried out by Alstom, and the first refurbished train entered service on 30 May 2013. All 106 refurbished trains had entered service by 13 April 2015.

The 1996 Stock replaced the 1983 Stock trains. The stock was bought for the opening of the Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) from Green Park to Stratford. The original plan was to refurbish 1983 stock with the same exterior and interior as 1996 stock, even with double doors, but it proved too expensive. However, the opening of the JLE was delayed, and the 1996 stock replaced 1983 stock between Christmas Eve 1997 and July 1998, over a year before the JLE opened. The trains also had signage displayed on the ending side windows with two plus two on each side of the carriages and one plus one close to the driving cabs, the outside mentioning 'Jubilee line' and the inside 'Security cameras in operation'. They were removed during the seventh car project, only train numbers 96066 to 96466 and 96012 to 96412 still retain them.

In early 2005 London Underground announced that it would add a seventh car to each train and four new trains. The original factory on the Barcelona sea front had been closed, and the new stock was manufactured in Alstom's new factory at Santa Perpètua de Mogoda in the Barcelona suburbs. The four new trains were built as six-car trains and modified to seven-car configuration at Stratford Depot.

From 25 December 2005 the line was closed for completion of the conversion to seven cars, including signalling alterations and software modification to the platform-edge doors. The original plan was to hard-wire two cars together so that the onboard computer would "see" them as one car, but this proved unnecessary. Since the stock was designed as six-car sets with the ability to add a seventh car, platforms were already long enough for seven-car trains and platform-edge doors had been built with space for a seventh car. The line was scheduled to close for five days, but the work was completed ahead of schedule and the line reopened two days early. The new car is a trailer car in the "odd" unit, with design designation "G". An example of a seven-car train set would be 96117, 96317, 96717, 96517, 96518, 96318, 96118 (the seventh car in bold.)

The trains were originally delivered with seats with a mauve and grey moquette. They formed the letter J for Jubilee (the Northern line's moquette formed the letter N). This was replaced in November 2005 with the new dark blue Tube Lines moquette with multi-coloured and multi-size hollow squares, introduced at the same time on the 1973 and 1995 stock. At the same time, the purple armrests were repainted blue to match the new seats. However, the four additional trains delivered in 2005 were delivered with the original moquette and armrests, and remained in this condition for several years.

In 2012, the new Barman moquette was introduced on all units, prior to the 2012 Olympics.

Starting in 2014, the external LCD destination displays were replaced with LED units, manufactured by Focon. The new units use orange text, instead of the original yellow.