London is the home and work place of millions of inhabitants. Yet despite its highly developed transport network, including the extensive subterranean metro, also known as the Underground or Tube, the city remains choked with traffic – both human and vehicle, both over- and underground.
In order to make the urban environment more sustainable, several projects are on the drawing board, amongst which features an original proposal by design practice NBBJ. Involving the Tube, this solution, if adopted, would substitute the 27km-long Circle Line, one of the most congested and frequently delayed routes, with a moving walkway.
©NBBJ
The innovative project envisages a walkway divided into three distinct tracks, each operating at different speeds. They would be marked in different colours, with yellow for the one the commuter first steps onto, moving at a minimum speed of 4.8km/hr and accelerating up to 14.5km/hr between stations. The ‘rider’ can then switch to the adjacent orange track, advancing at a maximum speed of 19km/hr, before transferring to the red, which reaches 24km/hr.
The operating principle is similar to that of a motorway – whereby drivers move out to the left (or right in the U.K.) when picking up speed – with the difference that both the walkway users and the infrastructure itself are mobile elements.
The NBBJ team considers this hybrid between an underground line, a travellator, and a motorway advantageous for ‘riders’ since they can travel faster and enjoy a more pleasant journey experience. Gone would be stressful features of traditional public transport such as unreliable schedules or packed trains. In fact, since this system involves no trains at all, the available space can be freely occupied, meaning that the problem posed by overcrowding, arguably the most unbearable part of the Underground commute, would be solved.
©NBBJ
The concept is certainly original and fascinating, since while making use of an existing transport mode, it proposes to use the system in a truly innovative way to resolve a real problem, i.e. overcrowding of travellers.
However, for the time being the plans remain very much in the concept phase; feasibility has yet to be proved. For example, the estimated costs for building and operating, including the energy required, are unknown. Then safety has to be taken into consideration, e.g. can users walk comfortably? Can they switch between tracks without running any risks to their person or others? Furthermore, walkways are not immune to breakdowns. Having one in an airport is already annoying enough, but if this should occur along the entire 27km length of the Circle Line, the traffic consequences would be far greater.
©TfL/Thomas Riggs
Over 150 years ago, London proved its pioneering spirit by building the world’s first underground metro system (opened from 1863). Today, if NBBJ’s idea is taken seriously, such a moving walkway will not only put the city in the public transport spotlight again, but may well herald the birth of a new mode…
Edoardo de Silva is a project collaborator with the independent Italian consultancy TRT Trasporti e Territorio