Last June, Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, and TfL agreed to “make progress towards the conversion of at least one London Underground line to full automation but with an on-board attendant” as part of the latest funding deal. The Docklands Light Railway, which opened in 1987, is an automated railway but others have not been constructed in the UK, despite the decades that have passed since then. The Paris metro is also partly automated. In his interview, Mr Shapps criticised the strikes and warned that they may end up undermining RMT’s own members because it could put scores of people off using the railways. Mr Shapps said: “Mick Lynch may be holding the country to ransom but actually what he’s doing is holding a gun to his own industry’s head. It’s reckless vandalism. “And if it continues, it could drive thousands of passengers away for good and turn what should be a very bright future for the railway, that we’re investing billions of pounds on expanding, into one of irrelevance and irreversible decline. “He has not only taken his workforce to these strikes on false pretences, but he’s actually damaging his own members’ interests by doing this.” That framing has been vehemently denied by RMT, which argues its members have been overlooked for a pay rise for three years and warns the Government’s modernisation plans could imperil safety.
