TfL has been told it must embrace driverless trains as a condition for its long-term funding, according to reports.
The requirement is part of a move to lessen the effectiveness of the RMT which on Thursday called a second strike in a week in a row over job losses and pensions.
It has sparked travel chaos across London, causing most lines on the Underground to be suspended, with commuters facing long waits for buses and taxis to get to work.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has reportedly insisted on driverless tech as a condition for a long-term settlement with TfL, according to the Daily Mail citing a Government source.
“Industrial action or no industrial action, there is a strategic case for moving forward on driverless trains,” a source told the paper.
“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.”
Boris Johnson has repeatedly pushed for driverless trains.
He said during funding negotiations with TfL in 2020: “Let’s not be the prisoners of the unions any more, let’s go to driverless trains and let’s make that a condition of the funding settlement for Transport for London this autumn.”
However, unions have strongly resisted the idea.
ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, previously branded the idea as a “nonsensical distraction for a rudderless government”.
RMT, the union which called Tuesday’s and Thursday’s strikes of London Underground staff, has also previously slammed the idea as “dangerous nonsense” that should be “consigned to the science fiction shelf”.
Sadiq Khan has responsibility for TfL but has been ordered by the Government to reduce the costs of staff pensions in return for a £200m bailout to run until June 24.
He has called for the Government to provide a longer-term deal to avoid significant and damaging cuts to Tube and bus services”.
A spokesperson for the Mayor said driverless trains were “not a priority for TfL” amid an estimated £10bn price tag, reported the paper.
