Re: Beresfield Accident Findings

[David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au>]

wallaby@fl.net.au wrote:

> I know the enginemen hate the thought of it,  but wouldn't it be simpler to
> install a vigilance device in parallel with or in lieu of the deam man device
> on electric trains?

Electric Trains aren't the problem here, as they have automatic train stops.  The
problem is with locomotives.

> Sure,  this doesn't protect against colour blindness or lack of concentration,
> but by the look of the post on Beresfield,  the cause was *sleep*,  and a
> dead-man handle or pedal(like the XPT or Tangara) would prevent accidents
> caused by sleep or some other fit or attack which would prevent an engineman
> from operating the train properly.

No it wouldn't.  The majority of people don't understand what it is like working
shift work.  In the case of Beresfield, these drivers were on their way home, when
most people's alarms were going off to wake up.  When you are near the end of your
shift, and you've been working all night, your brain starts to do things
automatically.  A driver might honestly not remember stopping at Strathfield.  He
knows he must have, because the guard didn't pull the tail, but he just can't
remember doing it.  Same thing goes with dead-man and vigilance devices.  The
driver fireman sit there for 8 hours pressing a little red button.  They could do
it in their sleep, and they probably do.  Neither of them may be able to remember
pressing the button for an hour, but they must have, or the train would have
stopped.

--
David Johnson
CityRail Guard
trainman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman/