On Jun 17, 11:00*am, "Ian F." wrote:
"Mizter T" wrote in message

...

I suspect Bob Crow's analysis - that this is a bit of kite-flying - is
probably on the money.

How could we ever have driverless trains? There'd be no one to shut the
doors at Kennington just as you're rushing to change trains from the Bank to
Charing Cross platform.

But the computers could be programmed to shut the doors perfectly to
miss connections. ;-)

Being serious for a millisecond the bit that the paper does not
mention is the cost of having to provide full height or half height
platform edge doors if the trains were to be fully driverless - i.e.
like the Singapore North East line or VAL systems. I think the half
height solution is being deployed in Paris and also in Japan and in
Singapore on the older lines whereas Singapore has PEDs on the newest
lines like the Circle and North East lines. MTR in Hong Kong has
retrofitted a lot of places with PEDs but not sure if that covers the
few open air / viaduct stations there.

Given the long standing propensity for Londoners to "chance their
arm" (literally) in leaping through closing tube doors there would be
a huge culture change needed if trains were to go fully driverless
rather than DLR style. Given the systems are much newer in other
countries there is no long standing "misbehaviour" to deal with.
There are also interesting issues like curved platforms in London
which make CCTV monitoring harder as well as how you deal with the
physical installation of PEDs or similar.

I'm not in the habit of giving credence to Mr Crow but I think an
interesting debate could follow on as to Londoners' attitudes to
driverless tube trains etc. A lot of research shows that passengers
like a visible staff presence on trains and in stations - hence the
staffing strategy on London Overground. Past experience has suggested
that some "safety based" strikes or disputes garnered some public
support. It looks a bit like Mr Crow is trying to do the same here.

I note that the previously seamless connections at Poplar on DLR are
now not quite so seamless with trains departing just as others arrive
or the "RTD" message beeping on one train before it does on the
opposite one thus shortening interchange times. I guess the much more
intensive service levels means every second counts in keeping to
schedule.

--
Paul C
via Google