Setting of Points

["Bernard Smith" <epping.smiths@gatewaynet.bigpond.com>]

I have a question about the setting of points.

Gordon station (NSW) has a terminating road that normally accepts Down
trains so they can return to the City.  This road can also be used for Up
trains to terminate and return to Hornsby during trackwork and emergencies.
Looks something like this.

                      ----------------                      Down
--------------<                          >[a]----------->>>
                     >------------[b]<
<<<---------<                         >[c]-----------------
 Up                ----------------

For safe operation, the points at the Down end of the terminating road [b]
can be * paired with the departure points onto the Down [a], * paired with
the arrival points from the Up [c] or * 'paired' with both (and put in a
split position if no movement is planned at the Down end).

With a train arriving on the Up, and a train in the middle road, I noticed
this morning that those points were set in the direction of the Up.  That
is, a Down terminator could end up heading wrong way on the Up if it failed
to stop.

I am sure that there is signal protection and a trip on the middle road, but
why would those points be set so as to allow a head-on on the Up?  A safer
setting would be to set them to return a shootthrough to the Down.