Re: guard/driver training (was: "Olympic Sprint Platform - Lidcombe")

[craigd@lios.apana.org.au (C. Dewick)]

In <19990511033905.09631.00000722@ng-cb1.aol.com> markbau1@aol.comQQQQyuk (MarkBau1) writes:

><<<<<<> So to say that a guard can come out of a 5 week school and perform to a
>100
>> percent expectation level is ludicrous.>>>>>

>Your argument falls down a little when it is known that trains can run just
>fine with no guard!

>5 weeks, I could have a newbie 90% of the way to being a good spark driver in
>that time.

Except the Sydney rail system is has so many physical contingencies with
running driver-only that there are lots of problems to solve regardless of
the crewing and training issues.

>Is Australia the last country in the world that thinks it takes years to train
>drivers and guards?

It doesn't take years, but you *cannot* get in-service experience out of a
textbook. Things don't work the same in real life as they do in the books,
and that's something any experienced railway person will tell you.

Working on the freight trains at Enfield for 4 years certainly proved that
the books usually go out the preverbail window when it comes to solving
problems irl.

You can certainly teach people by the book(s) in a short time - I don't
dispute that at all, but to give people a classroom course and then say
"right, off you go" doesn't work with a system so diverse as ours.

Regards,

Craig.
-- 
            Craig Ian Dewick            |       Stand clear - jaws closing
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