Driverless Tube trains could be answer to strike chaos in the capital

Driverless Tube trains could be the answer to union strike chaos in the capital as Transport Secretary issues Sadiq Khan with ultimatum

  • Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has made driverless technology a condition of talks on a bailout for Transport for London (TfL) 
  • Commuters face another day of misery today as the RMT strikes continue 
  • Tuesday’s strike forced commuters to queue for buses and walk in the rain 

Driverless trains could be introduced on the Underground as part of plans by ministers to break the power of the militant RMT union.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has made driverless technology a condition of talks on a bailout for Transport for London (TfL), which wants a long-term settlement to shore up finances ravaged by the pandemic.

Millions of commuters face another day of misery today as the RMT strikes over job cuts and pensions for the second time this week. 

Tuesday’s strike brought the network to a standstill, leaving commuters queuing for buses and walking miles in the pouring rain.

Driverless trains could be introduced on the Underground as part of plans by ministers to break the power of the militant RMT union. Above: An artist’s rendering of a driverless train. The image was released by Transport for London last year

Yesterday, the RMT threatened more strikes and said there could be ‘a massive shutdown over the summer’ if TfL tries to change the terms of staff pensions.

Sadiq Khan, London’s Labour Mayor, has responsibility for TfL, but a Government source said Mr Shapps was determined to begin the shift to driverless technology.

‘Industrial action or no industrial action, there is a strategic case for moving forward on driverless trains,’ the source said. 

‘They are already a reality – the London Docklands Light Railway has been automated since its birth 35 years ago – but there is a deep-seated cultural resistance to the concept at TfL. 

‘It cannot be right that commuters are held to ransom and the economy of London harmed, merely at the whim of union bosses.’

The Transport Secretary has now warned Mr Khan he must begin ‘scoping work’ on driverless trains if he wants more bailouts.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has made driverless technology a condition of talks on a bailout for Transport for London (TfL), which wants a long-term settlement to shore up finances ravaged by the pandemic 

Mr Shapps is also demanding a reduction in the number of TfL bosses on six-figure salaries, as well as curbs to the gold-plated pensions of train drivers. 

For every £1 staff pay into the fund, TfL pays £6.

Boris Johnson has pushed for driverless trains on the Underground for more than a decade, but has been thwarted by unions, who say the idea is ‘dangerous nonsense’.

The Government has given TfL almost £5billion to help compensate for revenues lost during lockdowns when millions of staff were ordered to work from home.

The current agreement runs until June, and Mr Khan has been warned there will be no long-term financial settlement unless he agrees to embrace driverless technology.

But last night a spokesman for the Mayor said that he had been clear to ministers that driverless trains would cost £10billion and were ‘not a priority for TfL’.

The dispute is also over planned reductions in station staff.

But TfL says that there will be no redundancies and that its plan is to not fill about 600 vacancies after staff leave or retire.

This week’s walkouts went ahead even though fewer than half of eligible RMT members voted in favour.

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