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Driverless trains can run 24/7 without anyone needing to stay up all night

by imgabe 5y ago

KineticLensman 5y ago
The trains discussed in the article will still require an onboard attendant. Also, track maintenance still requires service downtime, which currently happens at night.
LatteLazy 5y ago
It's rail maintenance that stops trains running 24/7 in London. The rails are too old, often not fit for purpose and no one wants to pay to replace them. So every night they need polishing (literally), grinding, replacing, checking, etc.
- Ichthypresbyter 5y ago
  >no one wants to pay to replace them. So every night they need... replacing Not sure how that works. More seriously, I am unaware of the Tube tracks being unusually old, or requiring unusual amounts of maintenance because of their age compared to other comparable systems. Have you got a source on that? There's also the fact that the deep Tube lines only have one track per direction, in contrast to the New York Subway where there are express and local tracks so trains can be rerouted via one set of tracks while maintenance is done on the other set. Plus, of course, the equipment needed to do maintenance on the lines usually needs to be carried by hand through stations and into the tunnels.
  - LatteLazy 5y ago
    You're quite right to ask for a citation. Sadly I can't give you one as the TFL rail condition assessments aren't public. Instead I'll point out that Metronet and Tubelines spend billions trying to dig out of the backlog and failed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Lines >no one wants to pay to replace them. So every night they need... replacing Yeah, stupid right? Imagine a signal is broken (and TFL still used vaccume tubes for its signal systems as recently as 2010). So you have to reduce speed on the line. So now the centra-pedal forces on the corner after the speed restriction aren't enough to counter the camber of that curve. So the wheels on ever train grind down the railhead. So now you have the replace the rail (or polish it etc) much sooner than expected. Failing to replace one part forces you to replace another part. Replacing that part uses up the time/money you have so you can't now replace the first part. Take the central line anywhere between Bank and Stratford some time. The screaming of the wheels isn't just deafening noise. It's the actual rail being turned into dust because no one has invested a weeks closure and money to fix the rest of the infrastructure. So instead every night someone has to go check it and make sure it hasn't cracked yet...

Driverless trains can run 24/7 without anyone needing to stay up all night

by imgabe 5y ago

Driverless trains can run 24/7 without anyone needing to stay up all night

The trains discussed in the article will still require an onboard attendant. Also, track maintenance still requires service downtime, which currently happens at night.

LatteLazy 5y ago

It's rail maintenance that stops trains running 24/7 in London. The rails are too old, often not fit for purpose and no one wants to pay to replace them. So every night they need polishing (literally), grinding, replacing, checking, etc.

Ichthypresbyter 5y ago
>no one wants to pay to replace them. So every night they need... replacing Not sure how that works. More seriously, I am unaware of the Tube tracks being unusually old, or requiring unusual amounts of maintenance because of their age compared to other comparable systems. Have you got a source on that? There's also the fact that the deep Tube lines only have one track per direction, in contrast to the New York Subway where there are express and local tracks so trains can be rerouted via one set of tracks while maintenance is done on the other set. Plus, of course, the equipment needed to do maintenance on the lines usually needs to be carried by hand through stations and into the tunnels.
- LatteLazy 5y ago
  You're quite right to ask for a citation. Sadly I can't give you one as the TFL rail condition assessments aren't public. Instead I'll point out that Metronet and Tubelines spend billions trying to dig out of the backlog and failed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Lines >no one wants to pay to replace them. So every night they need... replacing Yeah, stupid right? Imagine a signal is broken (and TFL still used vaccume tubes for its signal systems as recently as 2010). So you have to reduce speed on the line. So now the centra-pedal forces on the corner after the speed restriction aren't enough to counter the camber of that curve. So the wheels on ever train grind down the railhead. So now you have the replace the rail (or polish it etc) much sooner than expected. Failing to replace one part forces you to replace another part. Replacing that part uses up the time/money you have so you can't now replace the first part. Take the central line anywhere between Bank and Stratford some time. The screaming of the wheels isn't just deafening noise. It's the actual rail being turned into dust because no one has invested a weeks closure and money to fix the rest of the infrastructure. So instead every night someone has to go check it and make sure it hasn't cracked yet...