Hi everybody.
I would 100% agree with what has been stated by Norfolksouthern and John Citroen. Cab alerters are a good addition to rail safety, but auto response by rail drivers has been a recognised condition in the UK for a number of years. Although never proven it is thought to be the main contributor to the Paddington rail disaster. In that incident a young driver of a regional DMU ran through a red signal on leaving the station and collided head-on with an arriving InterCity HST.
Despite intensive investigations due to the heavy death toll in the accident no conclusive summary was ever made other than straightforward human error. The investigation did conclude that all the Safety systems were working in the cab along with the signalling system. Therefore, it was believed that the cab alert did sound for the red signal but that the driver subconsciously and automatically released the brake auto application and ran through the signal.
Kws4000, if only it was that simple. However, I have to quote European regulations here, but on reading the American regulations that John Citroen provided they seem to be very similar.
A mobile worker (driver either rail or road) can drive for a maximum of nine hours per day, but can work up to 12 hours per day when involved in other duties which do not include driving. On two occasions per working week that can be increased to a maximum of 15 hours total shift time and the end of shift rest period can be reduced to a minimum of eight hours. The reduced shift rest period(s) must be compensated for by taking additional hours attached to the statutory 11 hour rest period within 28 days of the reduced break(s) being taken.
A driver can work up to a maximum of 60 hours per week although they must not average more than 48 hours per week in any 28 week period. The end of working week rest period must be a minimum of 45 hours although this can be reduced to 28 hours which again must be compensated for by adding the reduced rest period to another end of working week rest. Again the additional rest must be taken within 28 days of the reduced rest period.
At the end of a daily shift mobile workers must take their statutory rest period which as stated above can be between 11 and nine hours after which they can be recalled at any time be that two hours, two days or whatever from the end of the statutory break.
There are no special regulations for rail drivers within Europe other than the European working time directive. In Britain operating companies have to forward their mobile workers terms and conditions to the office of the rail regulator who has overall control over all operations on the British rail network. On HST services that office always applies a maximum of two hours continuous driving unless two qualified drivers are continuously present in the cab. On district and regional services the above nine hours driving regulation usually applies with just one driver present on the train.
As stated, the above are European regulations and practices and I believe they are probably the same in the United States but perhaps someone could check that out as I would be very interested.
Bill
I would 100% agree with what has been stated by Norfolksouthern and John Citroen. Cab alerters are a good addition to rail safety, but auto response by rail drivers has been a recognised condition in the UK for a number of years. Although never proven it is thought to be the main contributor to the Paddington rail disaster. In that incident a young driver of a regional DMU ran through a red signal on leaving the station and collided head-on with an arriving InterCity HST.
Despite intensive investigations due to the heavy death toll in the accident no conclusive summary was ever made other than straightforward human error. The investigation did conclude that all the Safety systems were working in the cab along with the signalling system. Therefore, it was believed that the cab alert did sound for the red signal but that the driver subconsciously and automatically released the brake auto application and ran through the signal.
Kws4000, if only it was that simple. However, I have to quote European regulations here, but on reading the American regulations that John Citroen provided they seem to be very similar.
A mobile worker (driver either rail or road) can drive for a maximum of nine hours per day, but can work up to 12 hours per day when involved in other duties which do not include driving. On two occasions per working week that can be increased to a maximum of 15 hours total shift time and the end of shift rest period can be reduced to a minimum of eight hours. The reduced shift rest period(s) must be compensated for by taking additional hours attached to the statutory 11 hour rest period within 28 days of the reduced break(s) being taken.
A driver can work up to a maximum of 60 hours per week although they must not average more than 48 hours per week in any 28 week period. The end of working week rest period must be a minimum of 45 hours although this can be reduced to 28 hours which again must be compensated for by adding the reduced rest period to another end of working week rest. Again the additional rest must be taken within 28 days of the reduced rest period.
At the end of a daily shift mobile workers must take their statutory rest period which as stated above can be between 11 and nine hours after which they can be recalled at any time be that two hours, two days or whatever from the end of the statutory break.
There are no special regulations for rail drivers within Europe other than the European working time directive. In Britain operating companies have to forward their mobile workers terms and conditions to the office of the rail regulator who has overall control over all operations on the British rail network. On HST services that office always applies a maximum of two hours continuous driving unless two qualified drivers are continuously present in the cab. On district and regional services the above nine hours driving regulation usually applies with just one driver present on the train.
As stated, the above are European regulations and practices and I believe they are probably the same in the United States but perhaps someone could check that out as I would be very interested.
Bill
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