[title]
Rumours of driverless trains on the tube have been flying about for years – but now those rumours appear to have been definitively quashed. TfL has officially abandoned an investigation into how driverless trains could be introduced on the London Underground, citing that extremely high costs would massively outweigh any benefits.
During the pandemic TfL was, as part of a funding settlement, required by the then-government to look into how driverless trains could be introduced on the London Underground’s Piccadilly and Waterloo & City lines. TfL then contributed ‘technical input’ to an investigation by the Department for Transport.
In response to a written question, mayor Sadiq Khan said that introducing driverless trains ‘would cost billions of pounds on each line’. The costs would primarily concern new rolling stock, platform edge doors and signalling, with Khan concluding that work on driverless tubes ‘shouldn’t be progressed any further’.
Previous advocates of driverless tubes have claimed that they would increase network capacity – as computerised controls can allow services to run closer together – and that they could help prevent strikes.
London transport guru IanVisits argues that London’s driverless trains would likely still need onboard staff – the DLR, for instance, has no onboard driver but still requires staff. He also says that modern signalling systems ‘are now able to push tube lines pretty close to the theoretical maximum they could reach anyway’.
You can read Khan’s full response here.
The future of London’s transport with Time Out
Even without driverless trains, London’s transport network is set for pretty massive changes in the near future. Just this week we had an update on the Bakerloo line extension, the Piccadilly line’s new trains are coming into service as soon as next year, the Central line’s carriages are being refurbished and Crossrail 2 just got a step closer to getting actually built.
Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.