Re: SAW/ASW - was Re: Computer Question - DTC

["Switched On" <yaropolk@hotmail.com>]

What a rant!

Rod <comtrain@mpx.com.au> wrote in message
831o5e$3j0$1@news1.mpx.com.au">news:831o5e$3j0$1@news1.mpx.com.au...
> Victorian Railways Safeworking has always concentrated on little harmless
> things, and our esteemed SWO's have an unfortunate knack of letting the
big
> things pass unnoticed.
> The prime assumption made is that all Drivers are Dick-heads and will do
> anything in their power to crash their trains. So the rules are built
around
> people who no longer exist,  so called qualified persons, riding with the
> Driver holding so and so, or the Driver walking forward to inspect points,
> etc etc
> Every suggestion that has come from the Drivers Grades, to the best of my
> knowledge is dismissed, without any thought, How the hell would he know?

I don't know about Vic, but certainly _some_ driver suggestions are taking
into account in QR. Some aren't, depending on whether they make sense or
not.

> So the decisions are all made by white collars in a City building
somewhere,
> half brain dead with hours of little activity in front of a monitor.
> The days of  using experience to develop a system are long gone, just as
the
> days of promoting yourself up through the ranks are also. Instead they
> employ wet behind the ears graduates, [from the uni's that really do
nothing
> more than keep people out of the work place a little longer, and make
> unemployment figures a little better!]

Unfortunately, the wet-behind-the-ears graduates are the only ones who have
the time to do the complicated tasks like coding millions of lines of
software to drive the train control systems, and who are trained in the most
up-to-date techniques. They're also the only ones who haven't gone "brain
dead" (ie burned out) from hours of _over_ activity design and testing train
control code. However, I'm sure that _you_ could do a much better job than
hundreds of university graduates.

>Just before this Uni thing started,

I had one driver say to me once (in a really stupid and disrespectful tone
of voice) "Where'd ya learn that one from? Uuuuni???" when I suggested that
red is a more failsafe colour to have for LED-based platform info indicators
instead of green or amber (which are the only two economically practical LED
colours available.) "What if a f***in' driver f***in'well stops a train
because of these things?" Well, I pointed out, all trains at this station
have to stop at the platforms _ANYHOW_, or at least slow down... what's the
issue? The issue was exactly two or three drivers being half-brain-dead
because of too many hours on the rails.

> we had the goats and the Cathlolics fighting it out! For many years
> depending on who was in control you needed to be a member of one or the
> other to get promotion or to have a say in how things were run.

And of course, it was sooooo much better then, wasn't it? Not!

> Prior to Kennett and Howard we also had a very strong Union that was able
to
> stand up to the bastards, and I would think, many smashes were prevented
by
> the old AFULE, refusing point blank to accept any changes or unsafe
> additions to our work place

Unions are neither good nor bad. I have seen some really great suggestions
come out of unions, but sometimes they don't offer any solutions at all -
only problems and anchor-dragging thick-headed subbornness, and it's just
not worth the energy dealing with them when they are like that. The point is
that no one person has all the answers when it comes to safeworking.. it has
to be a team effort plain and simple.

S