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Driverless Tube trains on London Underground 'won't run until 2030'

 
Regular Tube trains parked at a depot in Stanmore Picture: Jeremy Selwyn
Jeremy Selwyn
Matthew Beard|Transport Editor
29 September 2014

Driverless Tube trains will not be introduced for at least another 14 years and are unlikely to be in operation until 2030, according to an internal Transport for London document seen by the Standard.

Train drivers’ unions have seized on the timeline, saying it exposes the mayor’s threat to introduce driverless trains to undermine them as empty rhetoric.

TfL are due to place a multi-billion pound order for new trains after the election in an £10bn upgrade to several lines, starting on the Piccadilly Line whose stock was built in 1972.

Evening Standard understands that TfL has hired London design firm Priestman Goode, which created the look of Virgin’s Pendolino trains, to create a blueprint for the new Tube.

It had been assumed that driverless trains, which are commonplace on the Paris Metro, would be in operation in the early 2020s.

But a “New Tube for London” paper circulated to London Underground managers says it would be nearer the end of the next decade.

It states: “When the New Tube first enters service on the Piccadilly Line, it will have a train operator on board, and this will continue until the old fleet is replaced. This will take many years roughly to c2025. Any decision on fuller automation would come into effect after this date and in all reality several years after that.”

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The document acknowledges that driverless trains are a “key area of concern” and insisted that an “operator” would be on board initially.

Aslef, which has 60 per cent of Tube drivers as members, has promised “all out war” over driverless trains. The RMT, which accounts for the remaining 40 per cent, is opposed on the grounds of safety.

Finn Brennan, district organiser for train drivers’ union ASLEF, said: “This demonstrates that despite Boris Johnson’s bluster driverless trains are a myth for the foreseeable future. Even under the most optimistic proposals, it would be at least another 14 years before new trains on the Piccadilly line could be operated automatically. ASLEF would never accept driverless trains. We are glad that at last LUL is at last admitting that new trains will be introduced with drivers”

The mayor has been a bitter opponent of the unions and has tried to “tame” them with the threat of driverless trains and a call for a minimum 50 per cent turnout before a strike ballot is valid.

Under one scenario, the train could be built with a driver’s cab which could later be removed creating valuable extra space for passengers.

The new fleet will bring walk-though carriages and air-conditioning for the first time on the deep-level Tube lines.

Mike Brown, managing director of London Underground said: “The New Tube for London will mean faster, more frequent and reliable journeys for our customers. It will be introduced in the 2020s and we are at the early stages of the procurement process - as we and the Mayor have already set out on a number of occasions.”

The upgrade of the Piccadilly line was due to be completed this year but public-private funding deal to install new signals and buy 90 new trains collapsed in 2007.