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A Conductor Can't Be In Multiple Places Simultaneously
Author: Holly Gibson
Date: 03-12-2009 - 14:13
I've advanced this question many times and it always seems to run into a dead end as far as receiving a credible response. I'll pose it one more time:
When the train was in "pull" mode and with the phenomena of "lonesome cab", and with Metrolink trains operating with a two-man crew consisting of an engineer and a conductor, what was the conductor supposed to do to prevent the engineer from sneaking unauthorized people up into the cab of the locomotive and/or trying to run a train while simultaneously using his cellphone for phone calls and text messages?
If Metrolink was an airline, the conductor would be a simultaneous flight attendant and first officer. Let's explore the absurdity:
"And your seat cushion may be used as a floatation device."
*** quickly runs from mid-cabin up to the flight deck and straps self in seat, attaching radio transmission microphone ***
"Affirmative, tower. Traffic observed at 10 o'clock on taxiway 32-R. Will hold position until further advised."
*** quickly disconnects radio transmission microphone, leaps from seat on flight deck and runs back to mid-cabin ***
"In the unlikely event of a cabin depressurization, oxygen masks will deploy from above your seat. . ."
Do you catch my drift? Do you see the absurdity of it all?
As I see it, one of the most fundamental problems here is that Metrolink is trying to squeeze too much productivity out of a two-man crew. There's only so much that two men can do. I recognize that there's lots of self-appointed efficiency experts here who read this bulletin board, who hate unions and who think that all union employees are a bunch of rotten, overpaid no-good feather-bedders. Whether that might taint their opinion when it comes to the question of adding a second person into the locomotive remains to be formulated.
The two-man crews are stretched too thin. But that's just my opinion. Let the flaming continue . . .
When the train was in "pull" mode and with the phenomena of "lonesome cab", and with Metrolink trains operating with a two-man crew consisting of an engineer and a conductor, what was the conductor supposed to do to prevent the engineer from sneaking unauthorized people up into the cab of the locomotive and/or trying to run a train while simultaneously using his cellphone for phone calls and text messages?
If Metrolink was an airline, the conductor would be a simultaneous flight attendant and first officer. Let's explore the absurdity:
"And your seat cushion may be used as a floatation device."
*** quickly runs from mid-cabin up to the flight deck and straps self in seat, attaching radio transmission microphone ***
"Affirmative, tower. Traffic observed at 10 o'clock on taxiway 32-R. Will hold position until further advised."
*** quickly disconnects radio transmission microphone, leaps from seat on flight deck and runs back to mid-cabin ***
"In the unlikely event of a cabin depressurization, oxygen masks will deploy from above your seat. . ."
Do you catch my drift? Do you see the absurdity of it all?
As I see it, one of the most fundamental problems here is that Metrolink is trying to squeeze too much productivity out of a two-man crew. There's only so much that two men can do. I recognize that there's lots of self-appointed efficiency experts here who read this bulletin board, who hate unions and who think that all union employees are a bunch of rotten, overpaid no-good feather-bedders. Whether that might taint their opinion when it comes to the question of adding a second person into the locomotive remains to be formulated.
The two-man crews are stretched too thin. But that's just my opinion. Let the flaming continue . . .
