Re: [Syd] Why do trains sound horn when leaving platform?

[wbrueckman@aol.com (WBrueckman)]

At one of our regular Safety Meetings here in the U.S., we were shown a video
that I am not sure has been seen in Australia.  It shows a Chicago-area
commuter train unloading at a suburban station on a 3-track mainline.  The
commuters went to the end of the platform and crossed the tracks immediately in
front of their stopped train to get to their parking lot on the other side of
the tracks.  Just as one woman walks around her stopped train, she is hit (and
killed) by an express train using the middle track running at 100 kph.  On
American television, the video stops right before it is obvious she is about to
be killed, but on the railroad, we had to endure watching the entire uncensored
result which turned many stomachs there in the room.  I have always made a
practice of making all required signals prescribed by the Rules, and wish that
the express train in Chicago had made more liberal use of his horn as well.

Bill Brueckmann
Summerfield, North Carolina