18.07.12
Driverless operation could be implemented by 2015
An internal LU document includes plans to move to driverless operation within three years on the Jubilee line, the union RMT has stated.
The document, ‘Deep Tube Railway – Generic Operations and Maintenance Concept – 2020’, details the operation to be trialled later this year, with other deep level tube lines to follow.
Unstaffed stations and closure of ticket offices along the line are also included, the union asserts.
The core proposals are to run rail “unattended train operation” and operate trains without manual intervention, with a wholesale move to travel pass vending machines and many stations left unattended, opened and closed by PA and remote buttons.
The RMT has criticised the plans on the basis of safety concerns, and threatened to take action to halt the proposals.
General secretary Bob Crow called the plans, “a lethal combination of cash-led cuts and ignorance that would leave Londoner’s riding a daily death trap.”
He said: “The plan talks about “unattended trains” on lines where breakdowns and failures are a regular occurrence and where de-training through dark and dangerous tunnels is a fact of life.
“The proposals seek to rip up every safety rule in the book – leaving stations unstaffed in contradiction of long-standing regulations and having the trains run by remote control from signal boxes.”
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