See the future of the Tube

Though it has been open since September, your author is almost always behind the curve and so it was that he stumbled blinking into the "Going underground: Our journey to the future" exhibition at The Crystal in Royal Victoria Dock last Thursday. The results were terribly reassuring, as it seems tube trains will continue to be basically the same. In fact, it seems the only discernible differences will be the giving of awful names to stations and the deleting of the meaning in the names of Tube smart cards.


The centrepiece of the exhibition is a mock-up a Tube train designed by Siemens, given the hopefully-tongue-in-cheek name "The Inspiro", which we are told is 30% more energy efficient and 20% lighter than other modern Tube trains, but did seem to be awfully flimsy and squeaky to walk around on the inside. Nevertheless, the exhibition is an interesting anomaly, put together in conjunction with the London Transport Museum, and the exhibition is free. Plus it gives you an excuse to ride the Dangleway.

For more, see http://w3.siemens.com/topics/global/en/goingunderground/Pages/home.aspx