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Peter Campbell Smith[_3_] · June 23rd 09, 02:22 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:26:38 +0000 (UTC)
Peter Campbell Smith wrote:

On the whole, humans are much better and often faster at detecting
'something's not quite right' than technology, though that's not a
reason to be complacent.

wrote in :

What happens if theres no human in charge though? I'm thinking of
various completely automated systems such as Line 14 in Paris &
various VAL systems around France. Could a derailment (or whatever you
call it on rubber tyred systems) happen on them without power being
lost? If the DLR was run in the same way and no one in charge was on
board we'd probably be looking at a very nasty accident.

Completely unstaffed systems are no doubt subjected to a risk assessment
and the risk, in the context of any mitigation measures, is judged
acceptable. Staff are expensive, so if you do away with them you may still
be able to spend quite a bit on accident prevention or mitigation to
achieve an equivalent safety case, and still come in at a lower cost. I
would imagine, though I don't know for sure, that unstaffed trains would
have passenger panic buttons, for example.

I can't think of any derailment on a driverless line that had serious
consequences, but of course nothing is 100% safe.

Peter

--
Peter Campbell Smith ~ London ~ pjcs00 (a) gmail.com