Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2021 to Question 33171 on London Underground: trains, whether his Department has plans to incorporate provisions for the work on driverless trains in future carriage assembly contracts.

The Extraordinary Funding and Financing Agreement of 1 June 2021, between the Government and the Mayor of London, committed the Department for Transport and Transport for London (TfL) to produce a full business case for the Waterloo & City Line and the Piccadilly Line. As set out in the Agreement, TfL will make progress towards the implementation of driverless trains on at least one Underground line to Grade-of-Automation 3 (driverless, but with an on-board attendant, similar to the Docklands Light Railway), subject to a viable business case. The implications for future carriage assembly contracts will be a matter for TfL as the business cases progress.