The London Tube

Driverless trains may seem to be the future of transport or even the brainchild of come cartoon writers mind but they are actually here and working. In fact these have been around for a few decades now, lines which use them include the Docklands Light Railway, the Victoria Line and the Central Line.

These lines along with other automated train lines are deemed to be such a success that there are plans to automate more of the London underground lines. With the Jubilee line being heavily automated things seemed to be going well until early November when the line suffered from total communications system failure during the rush hour meaning that drivers had to take to the controls and guide the trains in to the nearest station. Passengers were left in the station as the control room screens went blank for almost an hour with repeated attempts at rebooting the system failing.

London Underground stressed that at no point were passengers at risk and blamed a software problem for the failure, they have since sort assurances from the software providers that this would not happen again and have launched an investigation in to the event.

The RMT union are looking on this event as proof that drivers are still needed on trains ready to take over the controls as well as taking passengers to safety should anything happen like this again. But London Underground officials are still insisting that trains driven by computers are necessary and while they acknowledge there is still a need for staff the role they will play in the train service provided will change.