Train of Thought

It is rare enough to be enlightened as to why one's London Tube train is stopped between stations, but now we Tube passengers are being enlightened full stop.

British artist Jeremy Deller — who's been nominated for the controversial Turner Prize — has compiled a book of quotations from Einstein, Gandhi, Sartre, Shakespeare and others for drivers to read out.

The project is being tested on the Piccadilly line, which includes London’s Heathrow Airport.

Driver Susy Wells told the BBC that the sayings helped liven up a job that "can be a little bit monotonous at times."

"It's brilliant, and the passengers love it.”

Some 3.5 million passengers travel by Tube every day. Deller’s original plan was to abolish all Tube announcements for the day, but the system’s managers vetoed that.

So now those of us on what seems to be a train to nowhere can take comfort in Gandhi: "There is more to life than increasing it's speed."