Re: DOO In Sydney?

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

In <37ef14ee.0@pink.one.net.au> "John" <johnst@aics.net.au> writes:

>> Not the guards as far as I can tell.  In my experience they ignore any
>> problems reported to them by travelling passengers in my experience.
>>
>> I'm not fan of DOO but it is technically possible.  However, I'm also
>> not a fan of having a guard if the only "service" that most guards
>> seem to deliver to passengers is to close the doors.

>Unfortunately, you have come across some dud Guards but be assured there are
>many Guards who are very good and very professional at what they do. David
>Johnson is an example of this.

Well, speaking of dud guards (as a driver with CityRail I get to deal with
more of them than the average passenger does), the guard I had on my train
on Friday night could be losing his job this week.

I was at the end of my shift around 8.40 pm on Friday night, and the last
thing I had to do was stable 12 run (my 8 car S set) in the yard here at
Waterfall. Only problem was, when I drove my train into the shunting neck
and changed ends, there was no guard. I phoned up the office, and the DM
checked around and found out that the guard who was supposed to still be on
the train with me to stable it had in fact given me a right-away bell at the
platform then got off the train!

He'd jumped on the next train heading back to the city to go home!

That train was pulled up somewhere (not sure where - I'm yet to see the wire
on it) and my guard was told that he has to go back to Waterfall to stable
his train and complete his rostered duties. What has really sunk him is that
he apparently told either Operations Control or his Guards Supervisor at
TCAC to "Get F@#%ed, I'm going home!".

So I happily waited and waited sitting on my train in the neck until a guard
came down (not the same one mind you - I think he'll lose his job on Tuesday
for what he's done) off another train that had to wait at Waterfall before
going back into the city, and she (yes, a woman guard, who was very friendly
and talkative, and more than willing to take time out of her rest time at
Waterfall to help me out) stabled the train with me.

In the end I waited nearly an hour without a guard before I could stable my
train. Remember that it's the guard's duty to close windows, and to apply
handbrakes (which the driver checks), etc., but it's convention that the
driver puts handbrakes on half the train and the guard does the other half,
simply because it's convenient to do it that way.

I am *not* pleased with the way new guards and drivers are being shoved
through the schools with minimal training, *especially* in simple things
like doing their damned job properly like they are supposed to do. grrrrr.

Many of the new staff are excellent, and I have high regard for these
people, but a larger-than-I-consider-to-be-acceptable number of new staff
(particularly guards) are totally hopeless and cannot (or will not) do the
job properly. This is going to bring all of us who do our job with a solid,
professional approach to be tarnished by the slackness of others. And
personally, that stinks, since it makes the job more stressful, etc....

Regards,

Craig.

PS. last week, my old regular driver from Enfield (who I visited yesterday)
was called a scab by a private bus driver on the day of the snap 24-hour
station staff strike! That's god damn lower than low - and a *private* bus
driver of all people! It was *not* the train crewing staff that were on
strike. Some people have no clue...
-- 
            Craig Ian Dewick            |       Stand clear - jaws closing
 Send email to craigd@lios.apana.org.au |  Visit my Australian rail transport
   Professional Train Driver, Cityrail  |      and rail modelling web site:
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