Thales wins one bln euro contract to upgrade London underground lines

PARIS, Aug 3 (Reuters) - French transport and defence group Thales (Paris: FR0000121329 - news) has won a contract worth one billion euros to upgrade four London Underground lines, including the oldest part of the network.

Under the 760 million pound ($1.19 billion) contract, Thales will modernise signalling and train control systems on the Circle, District Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines, which make up 40 percent of the network.

Upgrading the old equipment should allow the lines to handle on average a third more traffic, Thales said in a statement.

Canada's Bombardier (Toronto: BBD-A.TO - news) was originally awarded the contract to upgrade the lines in 2011, but the contract was terminated in 2013 following overruns and delays.

($1 = 0.6400 pounds) (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; editing by Jason Neely)