I wouldn't entirely agree with what you say about the DLR. The trains don't have track brakes like, for example, Metrolink. I have never worked on the DLR, however I have worked with the Seltrac signalling system, and have a pretty good idea what the DLR PSAs do. Their role is just as safety-critical as any other train driver. They carry out safe platform dispatch (checking the train before moving off), when driving manually they need to concentrate on the road ahead possibly for staff working on the track or if examining the line, and just like any other train driver, sometimes they carry out operational procedures under instructions from the signaller during degraded working. Personally, I've never been too keen on these activities being carried out surrounded by noisy passengers where there is clearly very high potential for them to be distracted from their safety-critical duties. However, history shows the DLR does have a good safety record. Perhaps this is partly because the railway's technology is generally quite reliable, so much of the time their role is purely platform dispatch. But watching a PSA in action in the middle of a big failure can be an interesting experience.
On the subject of glass cabs, I can see both sides of the argument. From a passenger's point of view it is good to be able to see the line ahead, especially on scenic lines. Returning to the DLR, these seats are *always* first to fill, and I bet they would be popular on some scenic routes in parts of the UK, like the S&C, Devon and Cornwall branches, Leeds-Lancaster, Whitby, etc etc.
The other side of the coin is that, from a driver's point of view I'm not keen on the idea of people being able to see in to the cab. It's not that there's anything to hide, but I am generally used to a private environment. I don't believe having a glass panel would change anything I do, and could tolerate the loss of privacy providing the cab was sound-proofed enough to cut out any noise from the passengers. I agree with what others have said that there is the possibility of passengers misinterpreting certain things they see in the cab, for example on one type of LUL stock operating under Seltrac signalling, if driving manually the in-cab display is likely to flash up "Over Speed Imminent" on a very regular basis, perhaps up to 20 times just on one station-to-station run alone. This is perfectly acceptable as it simply means the driver is close to the target speed, not exceeding it - but could be very alarming to uninitiated passengers.
On balance, I can't see it happening. I don't think the benefits outweigh the potential disbenefits. There could be a case for providing a window on the secondman's side, like the way some 1st-gen DMUs sometimes could be seen running with the driver's blind down but the secondman's side up.
Emergency brake time!
I can't see any of the jobs that I have occupied in the last few years managing effectively without the swathes of paper that are pinned up or lying about everywhere, based on the current technology we have available. Although in my last job the railway did after a while start to rely more heavily on digitally transmitted reports than had previously been the case, which cut down somewhat on the paper documents.
