Comment Re:I've been wondering why this took so long (Score 1) 127
Start with the Victoria Line. The trains there could be converted to driver-less operation within a week. Trackside barriers are a red herring. If someone jumps onto the track, there is nothing the driver can do about it anyway.
The biggest reason for keeping drivers on the train for the forseeable future is to cope with when things go wrong. When the DLR goes wrong someone just drives to the nearest station then walk a few yards (all the stations are really close together) and then sorts it out. With the underground that is not possible due to the way the tunnels and the way the two electrifies rails make walking down them impossible, when something goes wrong you get stuck under ground unless the driver can get you to the nearest station.
I am sure we will see driver less trains eventually, but that is still along way off as the infrastructure needs serious improvement before then. A decent, modern digital signalling system not reliant on a poxy third rail than can be screwed up by a coke can landing on it will be needed first. Eventually TFL will actually spend enough cash to sort things like this out, but that is decades away.
Until we get rid of the train driver though, they are seriously overpaid for the job they do. It will require a serious influx of cash though to hasten there demise, and they have TFL over a barrel with their current pay deal.