Redeveloped Tube stations to go all-LED

New lighting at several London Underground stations that are currently being redeveloped will be all-LED. Bob Benn, stations engineering manager for London Underground, told the Lighting for Rail conference that stations including Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street and Victoria, will get 100 per cent LED lighting when the work is completed. Lighting for the stations was initially designed several years ago as part of the redevelopment plans, with fluorescent products in mind. But lighting teams have managed to get specifications updated to take advantage of newer technology. ‘We were basically dealing with an obsolete design,’ said Benn. ‘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 specification to LED means London Underground will reap significant energy and maintenance savings, despite a higher upfront cost. The high cost of conducting maintenance in busy and hard-to-access underground stations means long-lasting products pay for themselves quickly. An earlier project to replace T8 lamps in a number of London Underground stations with LED tubes has saved millions of pounds in maintenance costs, paying for itself in less than 18 months. ‘From the point of view of whole-life cost, we’re very aware of the reduced maintenance of new technology,’ said Benn. An ongoing programme of station improvements is taking place all over the Tube, and many stations are being upgraded to prepare for the completion of Crossrail. Work at Bond Street is due to be finished by 2017, while work at Victoria and Tottenham Court Road will go on until 2018.