Posted 25th October 2011 | 8 Comments
Storm blows up over plan to axe Underground drivers
LONDON UNDERGROUND is considering proposals to make its drivers redundant within a decade and close most of the ticket offices on the system, which serves more than 270 stations.
The RMT union, which has seen a leaked strategy document produced during the summer, says LU's plan is a 'blueprint for carnage'.
Under the plan just 30 offices would remain at key stations in central London, resulting in the loss of at least 1,500 jobs. The Underground is also foreseeing the day when Oyster smartcards are withdrawn, with passengers using contactless bank cards instead.
Further radical proposals in the internal document envisage the introduction of automatic trains which would not need a driver. These could run with a member of staff acting as a 'train attendant', which is the practice on the Docklands Light Railway, or perhaps later on with no staff at all.
The document, entitled an Operational Strategy Discussion Paper, is dated July. It looks forward to how the network could evolve between now and 2022.
It says that most ticket offices could be closed by 2016, with the remainder being converted into 'travel centres'.
By 2017 only one train in five would still be controlled by a driver, with all drivers becoming redundant within another three years. It speaks of a 'recruitment freeze', and estimates that the changes would reduce operational costs by 20 per cent.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “This ill-conceived and finance-led document ignores reality in favour of austerity. It would leave passengers stranded in tunnels with no means of evacuation and would turn the platforms and stations into a muggers' and vandals' paradise."
But London Underground said it remained committed to 'fully-staffed stations'. LUL managing director Mike Brown said the company needed to look ahead, and examine the scope for new technologies.
He explained: "This discussion paper was prepared purely to stimulate fresh thinking within London Underground. It has not been adopted by LU senior management, the TfL board or the mayor and so does not represent agreed proposals for change."
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Martyn Hill, London
Has no-one considered that some LU staff maybe transferred to Crossrail (should Crossrail kinda come under TFL in the core sections...
Lutz, London
The internal whitepaper is probably getting ahead of itself, with the timescales a little unrealistic, but it is a move in the right direction, mirroring developments elsewhere in the world.
Colin Rutter, Luton, Bedfordshire
Boris...GROW UP!!
Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Last night I was on the Circle Line when an incident took place whereby someone had gone under a train at Embankment and after being held in a tunnel we all had to leave the train at Slone Square Station as the line had been closed. So what would have happened if train and station had been unmanned?
Driverless train many work on airport shuttles but not on old complex tube networks and given the fact packed trains are impossible to get on or off how would a train captain reach the front of the train especially as unlike the DLR tube tunnels DONT HAVE side walkways!!
And so the best place for someone who is able to drive the train is where they are now and it would be a lot easier with a Mayor who actually did their job and met his NUR Union leader!!!
Llion , Cardiff
I think it will be a complete disaster to go driverless, and to be honest I don't really like the idea of some of the trains being ATO already. There is nothing better than human judgment. I believe that technology has gone way to ahead of its time, and its got to the point of being dangerous. Its ok for designers to go and design new systems such as driverless trains because they have a job at the end of it, but how does the goverment expect to get people into employment when they go and do silly stuff such as this. And if London underground stopped putting forward silly suggestions and annoying the unions and drivers, there wouldn't be so may strikes. As for the pay deal I do think that £52000 is way to much, main line drivers who have a far harder job and travel all over the country are not payed this mach. I hope that we wont see any sort of driverless network on the underground or on the main lines fordecades to come. ERTMS is the limit, and the way forward for untill atleast the end of this century.
Pete Brown, Chippenham, Wilts
Would the train captain role be suitable on an eight car tube train? When I last went on the DLR (years ago) 2 car trains were the maximum length operated, making it just about feasable for an attendant to patrol the whole train making regular appearances in each car checking tickets. Not sure how effective this is on today's 3-car DLR. I doubt a train attendant would be able to patrol an entire tube train, and in practise they will probably remain at one position, in which case they may as well be in the drivers cab.
Tony Pearce, Reading, UK
Partly these suggestions are being made because of the high wages paid to Underground staff. Driverless trains are easy to design and build, and are usually less likely to go wrong than manned ones. However London is a city of Tourists, - many of whom do not understand English too well, and we need staff who can help and advise them before boarding trains. Having been stuck on Tube trains before I know the system 'creaks' and really is not modern enough to go driverless until its reliability is improved. The Tube is also a terrorist target and again we need staff to be able to handle the many false alarms as well as the real threats.
Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
So while Boris wastes millions on a Bus that needs a 2nd person in an age of cashless fares plans for trains with no drivers are made!!
The reality is with the exception of the Victoria and Waterloo and City lines most other lines are simply to complicated to be left without a person at the front.
As for train captains as on the DLR well the 1st requirement would be artic tube trains similar to the new trains on the Sub surface and Overground lines with full width walk through facility in order that the train captain could reach the drivers cab in an emergency.
It seems someone in Boris team is really getting desparate to come up with this crazy plan afterall "How many passengers would want to be stuck on a driverless train 100 ft below London?".