Re: Head on in the Western district

[Eddie Oliver <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

When people are talking about rules for passing automatic signals at
stop, and arguing that it is unsafe to do so, they might care to
consider the North American situation. There, large parts of the rail
systems do not even have a "stop" indication on automatic (i.e.
non-interlocking) signals. The most restrictive indication is "stop and
proceed", "restricting", or similar - which amount to a "proceed
prepared to stop clear of any obstruction" instruction.

I am not debating the merits (or otherwise) of this; my purpose is to
point out (as in so many other issues) that Australian railways are not
the only places in the world where decisions on these matters have to be
made, and that there are plenty of large-scale operations in the world
where the rules are less restrictive than ours.

Eddie Oliver