| Topic: | Reply | |
| Posted by: | Andrew OSullivan | |
| Date/Time: | 24/02/20 09:04:00 |
It simply makes no sense that we could have a road network that operates safely with autonomous cars and we would have a train network that couldn't use the same technology. I suspect some of the frothing at the mouth vehemence we have seen against the very suggestion of GPS has more to do the changes that it implies with regards drivers. If we had autonomous trains as well as autonomous cars the role of the driver would be much reduced and the grip of the unions on the tube network would be much reduced. You'd probably need a member of staff on most trains still but their ability to bring the network to a halt would be curtailed. Given the ideological slant of this government and the prime ministers avid interest in technology which has given him the urge to seek further lessons on the subject, it may be time to accept that funding will not be given for signalling technology that may be state of the art today but will be obsolete by the time it is introduced. If this is the case we are probably talking about two decades before any comprehensive replacement for the existing system can be in operation so it makes sense to consider interim solutions of which GPS/WiFi has to be on the menu. |