The rail nearest the camera is the live power rail and also seen here is a pick-up shoe which collects the power from that rail. The rail is rusty because this train was on a little-used depôt track.
The automated train control system used on the Victoria Line was developed 'in house' by London Transport, and unlike some more modern commercial technologies has given nearly 40 years of trouble-free service.
With safe operation of all the trains having been proven the new Victoria Line was able to open in 1967 as London's first fully automated underground line. Despite plans for further automation nothing more happened (on London's Underground) until the 1990's. However other countries have also been investigating automation and now the list includes cities such as Paris, Berlin, Lille, Lyon, Vancouver, San Francisco plus many more.
Some automated systems still carry staff on their trains, if only to operate the doors and generally reassure nervous passengers that there is someone 'onboard' who can take control in the (unlikely) event of a fault; others are fully driverless. However even these may have staff at busier stations and all have operations centres watching the platforms, etc,. via closed circuit television systems.
Automation offers financial savings in both energy and wear & tear costs because trains are driven to an optimum specification - instead of according to each motorman's 'style'. For the same reasons rush-hour services can be slightly more frequent as the automatic train control system can allow trains to travel at closer intervals. Where trains are completely unstaffed having fewer people on the payroll is financially advantages as staff represent a significant part of the cost of running a transport system.
Some other advantages of not requiring staff to be available to drive the trains include the ability to provide far more frequent services at quiet times (such as evenings and weekends) when passenger levels are lower and the revenue earned would not justify the costs of employing a full complement of train drivers, and the ability of train operators to vary the service frequency to meet a sudden unexpected demand - such as to instantly put extra trains into service when torrential rain interrupts an outdoor event and everyone decides to go home at 5pm instead of 7pm.
Because train drivers who do not drive trains for more than a certain period of time lose their safety certification so all DLR services are manually driven on Sunday mornings. (The same also applies to the London Underground Central Line, as these trains are also normally computer driven).
Automated railways often use "moving block" signalling where the slower a train is going the smaller the 'safety zone' becomes and hence the closer it can get to the train in front, this being because at slower speeds they need smaller braking gaps between them and the train in front.
London's DLR also features automation but to reassure passengers nervous for personal safety and to deter vandalism each train also carries a member of staff too. In addition to closing the doors and despatching the train at stations, these 'Train Captains' also check passenger's tickets and offer travel advice for passengers who are not local. They also carry a two-way radio so are in constant contact with the control centre.
In many ways the Docklands Light Railway blends and blurs the different categories of railway public transport. Services are provided by light rail vehicles but the 3rd rail power system they use is more reminiscent of London's mainline railways than what is usual for what essentially are 'trams'. Because the DLR also features fully automated train operation it can also be called an automated guided transit; however it provides a far more extensive service than is usual for AGT's, and in this respect is more on par with some of the new breed of 'mini-métros' such as the French VAL system (see below). But, when it was realised that the original DLR vehicles from when the line first opened back in 1977 could not be used on a tube-style extension to Bank underground station (they did not conform to British safety standards for tunnel operation) these vehicles found a new home in Essen, Germany, where after being fitted with driving cabs and pantographs started operating over that cities' light rail system - which includes both tram-style sections of street running shared with the general road traffic and tunnel services in Essen's underground system.
As previously stated, not everyone likes unstaffed trains - some passengers suggest that they make them feel distinctly uneasy just in case there is a failure. This fear of things that drive themselves - though understandable - is irrational because although very rare when rail accidents do occur the majority of them can be attributed to human error - often by the signalmen or train driver (signal past at danger - SPAD - being a well-known issue) and it is in the fitting of automated safety systems that override human errors these incidents are usually prevented. The real danger comes from the roads where there are so many accidents that the media generally only reports them when they involve either major carnage or multiple deaths.
In February 1981 the Japanese opened the first urban automated guideway transit (AGT) of the present era.
The Kobe Port Island Line (commonly known as Port Liner) was built to link and open up for development the artificial island of Port Island with Sannomiya Station, Kobe's main transit hub. It is 6.4 km in length and features 9 stations. Subsequently it has been extended by 4.3 km to the new Kobe Airport, which was built on an artificial island near Port Island.
Left: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:800px-Portliner_8000_01.jpg
Right: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Port_Liner01s3872.jpg.
In 1983 the French city of Lille opened the first métro system with fully unstaffed trains.
These trains use the 'VAL' system which nowadays exists in several cities including Paris, Toulouse, Rennes & Chicago (USA). The name 'VAL' was originally used because it represented the route of the first line - Villeneuve d'Ascq à Lille (ie: Villeneuve d'Ascq to Lille) - but now it officially stands for véhicule automatique léger, or automated light(weight) vehicle. The term 'lightweight' refers to the fact that at just 26 metres in length (two linked cars), 2 metres in width and with a passenger capacity of 152 per twin-unit train the VAL trains are smaller in size, mass etc. than traditional trains. They partially make up for their low passenger capacity however by being able to operate at headways as close as 60 seconds.
The advantages of using 'lightweight' trains such as these is that it reduces the cost of building the system. Shorter trains require shorter (cheaper to construct) stations whilst lighter-weight railcars require physical infrastructure which is of a lower mass and therefore also less expensive to construct.
Note that VAL follows the French passion for rubber-tyred métros.
Stops and Stations page.
Another French City with an unstaffed automated métro line is Lyon; this uses a different system and its trains feature large panoramic front windows so passengers can enjoy the view of where they are going. Note that in Lyon only line D is automated and that instead of platform doors an infra-red system detects obstructions on the platform edge.
The Canadians have also been investing in automated métro technology.
Their system uses what are called Canadian Automated Light Rail vehicles (ALRT) which combine both traditional and several innovative state-of-the-art technologies; for guidance they feature traditional standard gauge steel-wheels-on-steel-rails technology and innovative steerable bogies whilst for propulsion they feature innovative Linear Induction Motors (LIM) which is an electromagnetic propulsion system. The SkyTrain system was the first major application of LIM technology for urban transport.
With steerable bogies the two axles independently follow the track curvature, this significantly reduces flange contact with the rail thereby substantially reducing rail noise as well as bogie & track maintenance requirements plus extends wheel life to almost one million km.
Linear Induction Motors are ‘straight line' versions of the conventional rotary alternating current electric motor. Motive power comes from the motors reacting with the aluminium-capped steel rail located between the running rails There are no moving parts, substantially reducing maintenance and risk of mechanical failure. Braking is effected by using the LIMs to act as electricity generators (effectively this means regenerative braking which returns power back to the power rails for other trains to use) although at lower speeds the LIMs are powered to provide reverse thrust. This electrical braking mode is supplemented by spring-applied hydraulically-released disc brakes for final stopping and parking. As with light rail vehicles the Skytrains feature additional electro-magnetic track brakes which slide along the running rails and assure a rapid stop in an emergency.
Left a scissors crossover showing the LIM rail between the tracks.Two Canadian and one American cities use the Skytrain system; in Toronto it acts as an add-on to the pre-existing heavy rail subway and streetcar networks and although the vehicles are automated all trains carry a driver whose duties include initiating door closure & station departure.
In Vancouver the system acts as a fully automated mini-métro. The 2, 4 or even 6-car trains are unstaffed / fully automated and the platforms do not have platform doors. This system opened in 1986 and has been extended several times since, including over a spectacular bridge over the Fraser River (seen below). It is called Skytrain because apart from a short tunnel section in the city centre most of the system is elevated.
A third installation also exists in the US city of Detroit. Here the single or twin-car trains run on an elevated guideway on a 2.9 miles (4.7 km) one-way loop, calling at thirteen stations. A complete circuit takes just under fifteen minutes and trains run every three to five minutes. The DPM (Detroit People Mover) was meant to be a 'downtown distributor' for a planned new rapid transit rail system serving the city, however unfortunately this was not built.
Since unification and the merging of the cities' transport systems back in to one organisation audible & visible door closing alarms have become a standard feature on all of Berlin's trains and trams.
Note that only some of the Parisian system uses rubber-tyred trains - the rest still uses traditional steel wheel technology!
Another location with a fully automated urban transit railway is the Island State of Singapore, where the 20km North East Line fully automated heavy metro line opened on 20 June 2003. This makes it the largest fully automated transport system anywhere globally. (not illustrated - yet)
