Re:New Tube for London
by pi-err on Thursday October 09, 2014 @12:22PM
(#8433362)
I get that building a _new_ automated metro is easy. Converting an _older_ line to automatic and fully driverless is what's hard. AFAIK, there's only one conversion so far to full auto: Line 1 in Paris. It took 10 years and billions of euro to deliver (it's a total success though) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Métro_Line_1#Automation
Interestingly, it seems the main obstacle is software - contractors are few, code is highly specific, ISO certification and warranty issues are very unattractive.
Very interested how TfL will approach this. They're really good at what they do, even at communicating (responsive website!). Don't think anybody does it better.
Re:New Tube for London
by nawitus on Thursday October 09, 2014 @12:38PM
(#8433477)
They're [trying](http://www.automaattimetro.fi/en) to do that in Finland. The cost is around 170 million euros now, even though the projected cost was 100 million.
Interestingly, it seems the main obstacle is software - contractors are few, code is highly specific, ISO certification and warranty issues are very unattractive.
Very interested how TfL will approach this. They're really good at what they do, even at communicating (responsive website!). Don't think anybody does it better.