Leaked report shows driverless trains too costly

Aslef says that it is in possession of a leaked Transport for London (TfL) document that shows that making all of London Underground’s trains driverless would cost an impossible-to-find £7 billion.

Finn Brennan, the union’s organiser on the underground, said: “Leaked internal TfL documents demonstrate that it would cost an additional £7 billion, on top of the money needed to upgrade existing lines, to make underground trains ‘driverless’ and that TfL has concluded that there is, given the evidence, no economic case for doing so. In fact, the cost of conversion would make TfL's current financial crisis and the long-term funding issues facing TfL much, much worse.

“Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that introducing driverless trains should be a condition of a funding settlement for TfL. But these documents show that not only is there no business case for this but it would make TfL's financial position much worse.."

He continued: “The presentation shows that, given the constraints of the underground's infrastructure, there would still need to be a train operator on every train for the safety and security of passengers and that any cost savings are offset by the increased maintenance cost.

“Aslef has always pointed out that driverless trains on London Underground are a politically-driven fantasy. These documents show that we are right.”

https://www.aslef.org.uk/article.php?group_id=7289