The London Underground, which celebrated its 150th birthday in 2013, was one of the most impressive civil engineering projects of its day. But the drive and ambition that saw its completion is still alive in the British capital, which in the next couple of decades intends to invest heavily into a new, state-of-the-art trains and signaling.
This project is called the New Tube for London and aims to bring everything you imagine good about the transportation of the future to the London Underground. Trains will all come with air-conditioning and WiFi, in addition to LED lighting on the inside, as well as the outside. All information, from routes to advertisements, will be displayed on digital screens, while wide doors (to come with the larger cars) will ensure easy access to all passengers.
There are also plans to make these new trains fully automated, though this point is still under debate, as questions have been raised over the safety of such a system.
Acclaimed transport consultancy and design firm Priestmangoode is responsible for the New Tube for London’s design. The entire project is expected to cost around $25 billion, with first trains to become operational by the middle of the next decade.
[TheCoolist]
