Boris wants Driverless Tubes!

Just goes to show how much utter tripe the politicians spout.

There is no feasible way in this economic climate to make the trains driverless. All of their ideas are fatally flawed (in both senses!)

All a bit of a non-story as, even if it were announced that "driverless" trains were to be introduced, it'd be years until they actually entered service. And, of course, there'd be someone on board anyway, a la DLR.

I do feel though that, although Boris is being a bit of a prat and spouting some stereotypical views, the actions of Mr Crow & co can hardly help - "yes, it's the middle of a recession, yes, our company is shedding loads of staff and needs to save money, but getting quadruple pay for working bank holidays is justified!".

Depends on your type I guess

Except that is pretty much how the Jubilee line will be operated (and the Victoria / Central lines already are): One member of staff present for when there are problems etc., but the trains driving themselves most of the time. Sure, drivers on the Underground lines have responsibility for more passengers and possibly evacuating trains underground. But is there really a fundamental difference between driving a Jubilee train in 'manual' and the Train Captain doing the same for a DLR train; after all the signaling systems are using the same technology.

The big expensive jump, which the politicians mumble about, is the idea of trains with no staff on board whatsoever, but I havn't seen that mentioned this time around.

It's all posturing on both sides, from the outside looking in neither Boris or the Unions help themselves. Boris spouts stupid ideas, and the Unions ask for pay and benefits that the right-wing press can use to whip up hysteria against them.

Exactly what is the fundamental difference between the train captain on a DLR unit being in charge of the doors and the driver on a '96 stock (or other ATO) train?

Sure, it would obviously be impractical to have the person in charge of a '96 stock anywhere other than the cab, but the job that the person in the cab is doing is still the basically same as on a DLR train, with the same responsibilities.

The unions would not stand for that. The reason the DLR does what it does the way it does it is because it was a totally new undertaking when it started. Even if you had totally walk through trains on the Underground with appropriate guards positions it would never happen.

Boris is an idiot, in fact the only people I've ever heard praise him have, in the same sentence, said that London doesnt need a mayor anyway. Whatever the cynacism of Labour creating the post so they could run London, the conservatives view that the role is unnecessary anyway is worse. London does need a coherant overall person in charge, and it doesnt matter what political colour they are as long as they are smart and have a passion for London.

Minor point of order - Bob Crow is RMT.....it's ASLEF that are involved in the dispute you are referring to!!

I must admit though, the Unions really aren't doing us any favours at all.

I can't say I know much about the intricacies of how the DLR works, but there are undoubtedly differences.

How do they account for the lack of someone at the front of the train keeping a lookout for staff on the track or keeping an eye out for obstructions, for example. What if there is a person on the track, for whatever reason, and the potential is there for a one under? As unpleasant as the experience will undoubtedly be, surely it's preferable to have a person there in place ready to act and hopefully prevent the incident from being any worse than it has to be?

Say the train fails in the peak and needs to be manually driven. We all know how crowded LU trains get, so it makes sense that the person required to get that train moving is already at the front rather than having to fight through crowds of people - especially if between stations.

I don't know exactly how the DLR's signalling works, but I get impression it works partially on sight like trams - LU's version involves target speeds and some fixed signalling.

If we were to get all technical about it, I'm sure we'd use up the character limit for individual posts!!

Boris is a buffoon. His comments are ill thought out and completely without basis. He used the Victoria line as an example; you know, the one that's been using ATO for ooohhh more than 40 years (now that is something to be proud of), and the Central.....well that's had ATO for more than a decade. Have both lines gone driverless? Of course they haven't!!

I can't believe I'm about to say it, but even Christian Woolmar has come out and said Boris has got it wrong. The only reason it became newsworthy is because of the words "driverless trains" - it's a headline all day long and I cannot blame a single media outlet for running with it. Even the Evening Standard, despite it's many factual errors (ie, £10m for a single train - as if!!) actually tried to present a balanced story. I kid you not - even they could see it was a bit of a flimsy story.

Am I concerned my job is at risk? Nope, not in the slightest.

Wasn't the DLR given a hefty fine recently for continuing to run a service with a body on the track at some station or other?

Ah, yes....here we are. So much for the safety of driverless trains. Poor bloke...........

www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23833537-dlr-fined-pound-450000-for-failing-to-stop-train-that-killed-man.do

The Underground is the oldest metro in the world, it'll take years and with huge costs to be able to DLR'ify the ATO lines.

Nobody said you had to make the outside visible from the front of the saloon...

Presumably he envisages using minimum-wage agency staff to drive trains in the event of a strike ....

You have also got to remember that. 1) Boris has got to stand for re-election next year. 2) He would be a serious rival for party leader if he returned to parliament. Taking these two factors into account you can see why the government is treating London, not just TfL with kid gloves. If Boris is re-elected next year those kid gloves will come off to expose the iron fist.

Why??
I don't see any reason for that, unless the economy will be much worse.