This Station Master got to go overseas last week, and took several photos whilst he was there – the location? Barcelona in Spain, where the the TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona) rattles around the city. It too has 11 lines like London, but fewer stations – 163 in total.
Our two favourite things we spotted were the ‘Next train’ indicators on the platforms which counted down in minutes and seconds, how long before the next train would be in the platform available for boarding – and it was spot on, when it reached ‘zero’ was the moment that the train was opening its doors on the platforms.
The other thing we liked was inside the carriages on the trains – instead of just a simple map, it was lit up with lights showing you the progress of the train as it went along so you could see much more quickly where you were and what station was next.
Lit up Line Diagram
We’d like to think that if TfL/LU do introduce driver-less trains at some point in the future, that they’ll also look at every other metro system in the world (including Barcelona which has three driver-less lines) and take on board some of the feature and ideas and incorporate them into London’s trains.