"Pyromancer" wrote in message
...
Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as SB
gently breathed:

Bearing in
mind that there have been a number of fatal crashes in the US due to
the drivers texting, is this acceptable behaviour? SB.

Slight difference though, in the cases in the US, the driver was actually
driving the train. On the DLR, unless working in emergency manual mode
(where the train captain actually handles the power controller thingie),
it's all fully automated.

At the time the DLR was built, it was felt that the public wouldn't accept
totally automated, staffless trains. Hence the provision of the train
captains to be a staff presence on board without having to have actual
drivers.

The passenger service assistant (aka train captain) more often stands at a
doorway, so can't supervise the track ahead. Except in manual mode the
'driving' duties are merely to press a couple of buttons to close the doors
and start the train at each station. On one occasion the PSA managed to
press the buttons but strand herself on the platform when the doors shut and
the train started. The train proceeded perfectly safely under computer
control to he next station.

Peter