Re: [SA] TransAdelaide Train/Tram drivers

["Ted Gay" <tedgay@bigpond.com>]

"David Bennetts" <davibenn@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:zzoF6.73$c01.3508@ozemail.com.au...
>
> "Taliesin Walker" <taliesin@NOSPAMchariot.net.au> wrote in message
> 3ae585fc.6918172@news.chariot.net.au">news:3ae585fc.6918172@news.chariot.net.au...
> > Are TransAdelaide train drivers allowed to drive the trams and vice
> > versa? It would seem silly to have a pool of drivers who can only
> > drive trams.
> >
> > Tali
> >
> > Remove NOSPAM from email address.
>
> Most likely not - in Australia multi-skilling is still a novelty in urban
> transit.  I'd be a bit worried if train drivers were for example put on
> trams and allowed to drive them with a mix of pedestrians and cars, as
they
> have to contend with in Jetty Road, Glenelg.  In a railway situation, you
> don't get cars pulling out without indicating, people pushing babies in
> prams between parked cars etc.  Plus you've got very different braking
> characteristics between trains and trams.
>
> Having said that, I believe that there is a lot of multiskilling applied
in
> the Toronto, Canada system, where they run underground metro, trams and of
> course buses.  IMHO multiskilling brings benefits in that it introduces
> variety into workplaces, but too much of it results in a jack (or jill) of
> all trades, and master (or mistress) of none.
>
Heard a story about UK factories.  The staffs were taught a bit of
everything, it was sold as Multi-skilling.  When a machine brakes-down
technicians are flown over from Germany to do the repairs.

Ted