On Aug 18, 3:29 pm, Steve Fitzgerald ] wrote:
You cannot carry on empty in a single track tunnel with a defective
radio unless a second person is also with the train operator or the
OPO alarm still transmits.
That is the rule, sure. Is there a reason why that is the rule (given
that the publicly stated reason for gibberingly paranoid radio failure
"no trains anywhere" rules is passenger protection)? If so, what is
the reason?
[...]
Is it right to send a train with possibly over 1000 out with no way of
contacting someone should there be a delay to the service, then maybe
requiring the train to be held or diverted, or a passenger alarm is
operated and requires further assistance, or a one under requiring
traction current off?
Quite possibly not, but I was specifically referring to the ban on
running *empty* trains on OPO when Connect is down.
There is no ban.
You may have missed the bit that said 'unless a second person is also
with the train operator or the OPO alarm still works' which is what they
do.
Not missed, perhaps misinterpreted - I'd assumed that if Connect was
down then the OPO alarm would most likely also be down. If not, then
it's less of an issue.
But I still don't quite understand why these precautions (ie no empty,
single-manned trains if the Connect radio and the OPO alarm aren't
working) are necessary, given that the safety issues with OPO compared
to double-manning are passenger-related rather than train-related.
We still run OOS when the radio fails until we get back into a section
where it's working (or outside and you can use the Airwave radios we
keep, if they're available) and re-enter service. If the whole system's
down, it's hardly worthwhile running a fleet of empty trains about
though.
Well, clearly - but if it allows trains to operate a full above-ground
passenger service (either reversing underground or running through as
normal), rather than cutting it back to run solely between reversing
points, it's probably a better option. After all, the drivers and
trains are already paid for...
--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org