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Re: SMART/UTU misstep on one person crews?
Author: mook
Date: 07-31-2014 - 13:33
Big red STOP button as the only control? Sounds like BART. BART "drivers" were originally (when the system opened) called "train attendants" because of their limited role in operations.
The "safety" aspect is that, theoretically, they can keep each other awake and alert. There are machines to do that, too. Also, coffee, and reasonable work hours. They can also distract each other by shooting the breeze.
The real plus of more than one person on a freight train crew is dealing with hand-throw switches, adding/dropping cars, and the inevitable messes (engine drops off-line and has to be isolated, air hose or coupler breaks, hotbox, doubling the hill, etc.). With one person on the train, they either have to yell for help on the radio or take hours fixing it, or both, blocking the line. Those issues exist regardless of whether and how much hazardous material is on a train, and whether or not PTC exists (PTC would just stop all the other trains on the railroad while the messed one gets fixed). THOSE are valid reasons for 2-person crews for freight trains, IMO, but a generic reference to "safety" vaguely tied to "oil train" or "hazmat" isn't.
The "safety" aspect is that, theoretically, they can keep each other awake and alert. There are machines to do that, too. Also, coffee, and reasonable work hours. They can also distract each other by shooting the breeze.
The real plus of more than one person on a freight train crew is dealing with hand-throw switches, adding/dropping cars, and the inevitable messes (engine drops off-line and has to be isolated, air hose or coupler breaks, hotbox, doubling the hill, etc.). With one person on the train, they either have to yell for help on the radio or take hours fixing it, or both, blocking the line. Those issues exist regardless of whether and how much hazardous material is on a train, and whether or not PTC exists (PTC would just stop all the other trains on the railroad while the messed one gets fixed). THOSE are valid reasons for 2-person crews for freight trains, IMO, but a generic reference to "safety" vaguely tied to "oil train" or "hazmat" isn't.
