Train drivers will become laptop operators in mass digital age... but what about the human touch?

摘要

The 'digital railway' is much in the news at the moment, sometimes drowning out the many comments about what the new Government might do to the industry. Network Rail's commitment to a digital railway goes a long way further than installing ERTMS -the 'in-cab' signalling system that does away with lineside signals -and, in its latest version (Level 3), has the potential for increasing the capacity on lines quite significantly. It is supposed to be a pan-Europe system to facilitate cross-border traffic, but whether the European Commission succeeds in getting the monolidhic national railways of each member state to let go their stranglehold on new ideas and competition remains to be seen.