Re: Out of Gauge Suburban EMU's in Sydney (Was DOO In Sydney)

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

In <8E5CCA0F4telstraNews@vic.news.telstra.net> Michael Kurkowski
<mk@netstra.com.au> writes:

>Ideally that's how it should be done. A guard sitting in the end (or
>middle cab) sitting doing nothing other than blowing a whistle and making
>announcements is useless. Melbourne has already proven this. 

I completely agree, since it's a very bad under-utilisation of personel
resources. With the 'standard' allocation of 20 seconds for station working,
and an average running time of about 2 minutes between metropolitan
stations, that means guards are currently under-performing for around 80
seconds out of every 120.

>It would be great if the guard can assume another role, as you mentioned,
>checking tickets on their trains, and keeping order. Melbourne opted for
>the cheap approach, scrap guards completely and install mirrors on
>trains, CCTV/monitors on platforms. The guards jobs were not replaced. 

I think the guards should stay, but adopt a modified role. The Perth system
has no guards as such, but *every* train has private security guards.

In Toronto (Canada), the subway trains have two drivers (one at each end)
and when the driver at one end is driving, the other driver acts like a
pseudo-conductor, so they help each other out.

>Having said that, a guard would be of a lot more use if they can check
>tickets, and also inform passengers as required (i.e. does this train
>stop at central? do i wash my whites with my colours in cold water?), or
>basically the same role as Melbourne's tram condictors (the human, not
>the stainless steel type). 

He he - Cold Power to the rescue! 8-) Actually, no, we want to support the
Australian product, so it'd be Castle Excel to the rescue! but I digress...

There's been talk of giving guards a revenue protection role, but that's
also where CityRail wants to push all the Stations Managers and Duty
Managers when they strip away their positions and introduce the Group
Station Manager program (which was the reason for the recent strikes by
station staff). And there are so many new revenue protection staff coming
online already now that it might be be viable to transfer that role to the
displaced train guards.

>I think the reason why CityRail have a lot of employees who can't be
>bothered doing their job is simply because they have been treating them
>too good for too long. Anyone found to be slack should be
>dismissed/disciplined on the spot. Examples being, the driver in Katoomba
>(or wherever it was, in previous thread) that said "oh yeah, i better go"
>3 minutes after departure time. 

That does happen, but commuters rarely see any of it going on. In fact, it's
happening a lot more now than 12 months ago, presumably because of the need
to 'smarten' up for the upcoming y2k(ok) Olympic year.

BTW, leaving 3 minutes late is a very, very minor offence compared to some
of the things that happen (such as my guard disappearing off my train the
other day before I'd stabled it in the yard here at Waterfall)... However if
it's something that's done deliberately instead of a genuine mistake, that
changes the picture.

Regards,

Craig.
-- 
            Craig Ian Dewick            |       Stand clear - jaws closing
 Send email to craigd@lios.apana.org.au |  Visit my Australian rail transport
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