A few weeks ago I noticed public support growing for
driverless trains for the London Underground system because people have claimed
that driverless trains reduce strikes…
The Docklands Light Railway is the only driverless system in
London and has been in service since 1987.
It's worth noting that the DLR
workers have threatened strikes in the past over pay and conditions. Source 1,
Source 2
& Source 3,
so if you think driverless Underground trains would contribute to fewer strikes
then you’re wrong as DLR’s Passenger Service Agents are RMT union members as
well.
So then, how are driverless trains going to work out for the
London Underground system? The length of the London Underground system is 250
miles (402km) which makes it the 3rd largest
rapid transit system in the world. The length of the DLR is 21 miles (34km) and
most of it is elevated with some parts of the DLR system having tunnelled
sections. The ‘deep level’ tunnel diameter from the bank is 5.39 metres and is able to
have a walkway for emergencies. However, the diameter of the deep level
Underground lines is 3.56 metres and the trains have to be custom made which is
why it's called The Tube.
Safety is the main priority when it comes to driverless
trains; back in 2010, the DLR union members threatened to strike over pay
because of the DLR system upgrading to 3 car trains which meant they had to do
more to deal with capacity. The length
of the 3 car Docklands Light Rail train is 86.4 metres compared to the 8 car
2009 stock train (for Victoria Line) which has a length of 133 metres. So the
shorter trains are ideal for Passenger Service Agents because their duties are
to check tickets, give information to customers and deal with the doors at the
station. They are also trained to deal with emergencies.
But with the New Tube for London
which is a deep level articulated train, TFL planned for them to be driverless,
but the unions objected to it because they need to have drivers cabs for the
drivers safety.
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| Comparison between the Fixed block and Moving block system |
Currently the Central, Jubilee, Northern and Victoria
Underground trains use Automatic Train Operation (ATO) as it drives the train
automatically. The Jubilee and Northern Line uses the Transmission BasedTrain Control (TBTC) which is a moving block system which enables
the automated train to follow behind another train at a safe distance which is
controlled by the computers. But with the fixed block signalling system it only
allows the following train to move up to the last unoccupied block as the train
occupies the fixed block ahead.
The new signalling system does however increase capacity as
it allows more trains to run on the line, hence why the Northern Line has
reduced delays because of the new signalling system. The Docklands Light
Railway, Northern and Jubilee lines currently use the signalling system from SelTrac.
Recently, there is new legislation
which regulates unions to strike less because they say “ensuring the right to strike is fairly balanced with the
right of people to be able to go about their daily lives and work.”
All workers have a right to strike over disagreements with their bosses ranging
from problems with safety, work conditions and to their pay. Many Trade Unions like the TUC
object to the new legislation.
When it comes to the new proposal, safety is the number one
priority which affects the conditions of the workers and others. With the
transport industry, the strikes can also disrupt the economy because it makes
it more difficult for passengers to travel to their work place. This is why the
Transport industry is one of the most important industries because it enables
people to travel and contribute to the economy.
Going back to driverless trains, there are many rapid
transit systems around the world which have automated trains involving
driverless trains. Some of the countries which have driverless trains are
capable of operating automatically at all times, including door closing,
obstacle detection and emergency situations. This is known as Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4) system.
The countries that have this are as
follows:
1) Denmark
2) Spain
3) Italy
4) France
5) Germany
6) Switzerland
7) United States of America
8) Hungary
A couple of airports in Britain which have that type of
people mover system are London Gatwick
and London Stanstead Airports.
Countries that have Grade
of Automation 3 (GoA3) system require a member of staff to open and close
doors and deal with emergency situations; most notably the Docklands Light
Railway has that type of system.
The list of the systems is short as only Docklands Light Railway, Barcelona Metro,
Beijing Subway Airport Express and Sofia
Metro, which is scheduled for 2018-2019 use the system.
With Grade of
Automation 2 (GoA2) the Central, Jubilee, Northern and Victoria Underground
lines are listed, but this type of system has a drivers cab as the train driver
operates the doors and presses buttons to start the train.
There are various countries that have this system:
1) France
2) Germany
3) Austria
4) Hungary
5) Spain
6) Russia - Saint Petersberg and Kazan Metro
7) Sweden
8) Finland
9) USA
10) Canada
11) Italy
The Glasgow Subway in Scotland also has
automated trains, but the drivers duty is to check the way ahead is clear and
also to operate the doors at stations.
You can see more on this Wikipedia article.
So what is my conclusion on driverless
trains?
With the New Tube for London proposal,
I think the drivers cabs should be retained because a driver would be needed to
check if the way ahead is clear. 45% of the Underground system is below ground
which shows that the majority of the Underground network is above ground. Driverless Tube trains may put more emphasis
on safety, but as part of the New Tube
for London program, they will add platform screen doors on to underground
stations to increase safety. The Jubilee Line already has them as part of the
Jubilee Line Extension project back in late 1990’s.
The Underground system is busier now as
it is and between April 2014 and March 2015 a whopping 1.3 billion passenger
journeys were made on the London Underground compared with 140 million
passenger journeys on the Docklands Light Railway.
With the technology we have today it
may be theoretically possible, and safety will always be a priority but the
popularity for driverless trains is certainly there amongst Londoners.
Tube workers work very hard to run the
system and they deserve some respect as they have to deal with millions of
passengers to keep London moving. Please take your time to read the message from the Tube driver which ITV News posted.
If you decide that driverless trains
are a good thing for the London Underground then please post a comment below outlining
your own thoughts.
Don’t
forget to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
References: