100mph Tube trains are slow to arrive

A FORECAST made in 1925 of how the London Underground might look in 1999 predicted moving platforms and 100mph trains. The vision came from the inventor Archibald Low and correctly forecast such things as mobile phones, travelcards and platform indicators.

But, slightly less accurately, he predicted "comfortable waiting rooms in all stations" and in-carriage television news bulletins. Low also thought that 1999 would see flying buses, and moving platforms and pavements. And he declared:"Those of us who will live in 1999 are quite certain to complain bitterly that one hundred miles an hour is far too slow."

His vision is published by the London Transport Museum as it launches "Fast Forward - Rewind", an exhibition celebrating Tube achievements of the past and anticipating Underground travel of the future.