Tube Strikes: Right or Wrong?

[NickFitz]

For those crying 'automated trains'!!

Just think about it for a minute. The safety implications and service limitations would be enormous.

Automatic trains can work well on light rail systems that are designed from the outset to run them (these are usually very-light-traffic, low-passenger-capacity systems).

Trying to retrofit fully-automatic, driverless trains on the LU system (one of the most extensive and busiest in the world) would be a logistical and safety nightmare.

Just imagine the results if EDS got the gig

Actually, I believe the Jubilee Line will be switching to driverless trains in 2009, and the Northern Line in 2011.

But as this is a strike by maintenance workers, they could have all the automated trains they want and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

[bogeyman]

Actually, I believe the Jubilee Line will be switching to driverless trains in 2009, and the Northern Line in 2011.

But as this is a strike by maintenance workers, they could have all the automated trains they want and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

Great.

I wonder how these trains are programmed to deal with 'one unders' and people who slip and end up with their legs between the platform edge and the train before it pulls away.

[thunderlizard]

& will they be able to make sarky comments while deliberately shutting the doors on drunk foreign students?

[Alf W]

Yaaawwwnnnnn!!!

Local News alert.

The country doesn't grind to a halt just because a few Londoners can't get to work. Not that you'd think it from the disproportionate coverage this is getting.

Some people might like to get a train to work,
Or drive in in a Beamah or a Merc,
Some guys like to travel in by bus,
But I can't be bothered with the fuss.

Today I gotta take my bike
'Cause once again the tube's on strike;
The greedy bastards want extra pay
For sitting on their arse all day,
Even though the earn 30K.

So I'm standing here in the pouring rain,
Where the ****'s my ******* train?

London Underground (london underground)
They're all lazy ******* useless *****
London Underground (london underground)
They're all greedy *****,
I wanna shoot them all
With a rifle.

All they say is 'Please Mind the Doors',
And they learn that on the two-day course,
This job could be done by a four-year-old,
They just leave us freezing in the cold.

What you smell is what you get,
Burger King and piss and sweat.
You roast to death in the boiling heat,
With tourists treading on your feet
And chewing gum on every seat.

So don't tell me to 'Mind The Gap',
I want my ******* money back!

London Underground (london underground)
They're all lazy ******* useless *****
London Underground (london underground)
They're all greedy *****,
I wanna shoot them all
With a rifle.

Lalalala
Lalalala

The floors are sticky and the seats are damp,
Every platform has a ******* tramp,
But the drivers get the day off when
We're all late for work again.

London Underground (london underground)
Wa-wa-*******, they're all *******
London Underground (london underground)
Take your oyster card and shove it up your arsehole.

[Clippy]

If they don't like it they should seek alternative employment, not hold people to ransom including the public. I hope they get nothing.

Agreed.

Useless twunts.

[~Craig~]

A small increase for the drivers is nothing compared to the amount they spend on the rest of the useless feckwits that work for TfL

[Diver]

They deserve a decent pay rise and get my unreserved backing. I hope they stay out until they get it.


>Diver in "living in Wales" mode<

[Spacecadet]

For those crying 'automated trains'!!

Just think about it for a minute. The safety implications and service limitations would be enormous.

Automatic trains can work well on light rail systems that are designed from the outset to run them (these are usually very-light-traffic, low-passenger-capacity systems).

Trying to retrofit fully-automatic, driverless trains on the LU system (one of the most extensive and busiest in the world) would be a logistical and safety nightmare.

Just imagine the results if EDS got the gig

Seen it working in Singapore on their high capacity MRT system and its a Joy to Behold™.
The LRT systems that they run out in the suburbs is pretty cool too

I wouldn't advocate retrofitting the London underground system though, would need new rolling stock at the very least

[Gonzo]

Great.

I wonder how these trains are programmed to deal with 'one unders' and people who slip and end up with their legs between the platform edge and the train before it pulls away.

The Jubilee line stations that were built for the Millenium (that's all the ones east of Westminster) all have a plastic wall at the platform edge which only opens when the train is there, which puts a stop to the "persons under a train".

I suspect that they will do this to the rest of the network. Although the Docklands Light Railway does not have drivers and people throwing themselves in front of those is still pretty rare. It does happen, but not much.

[Gonzo]

They're on the warpath again! I do support the right to strike, some folk need some sort of last resort, but asking for beefy pay increases, when the economy is obviously dented? FFS, etc.

Back to the OP, I do not support the right to strike. These people are paid very well, above average for London and nearly as much as we'd all be getting if we were permie and more holiday than we get as contractors, and yet they think it is OK to hold the capital to ransom.