PASSENGERS on Glasgow’s Subway system will travel on trains without drivers or any staff on board from 2021.
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport say the new rolling stock will only be staffed at the network’s busiest times.
SPT senior director Charles Hoskins told The Scotsman: “We will always have staff in the system but it is not our plan to have a member of staff on every train. These will be the first fully driverless trains in the UK.”
The new trains will enter service at the end of 2020 and will initially operate with drivers on board before becoming fully automated.
The plans have been met with scrutiny from unions.
Unite official Pat McIlvogue said: “SPT’s future vision involves a Subway system which is ticketless, with no counter staff, no staff on platforms and no staff on trains.
“If that is to be the case, Unite has to raise the issue of what happens when something goes wrong?
“So there are remaining health and safety issues that are being avoided. For example, does the SPT vision involve staff-less trains when the Subway is packed with fans going to Ibrox for a Rangers game?”
Concerns have also been raised over how staff members are redistributed once the new trains are in place.
SPT say they are still working on a plan which will see safety and customer service ‘always remain a priority’.
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