Technology improvements for railways/ railroads around the globe - Reinventing Trains

Hi everybody.
I think the economist with the usual zeal of its editorial is stretching things beyond credibility when speaking of the development of nuclear trains and moving platforms in its article. I would certainly not wish to anywhere in the vicinity of a nuclear train when it derailed at 400 km/h. However, there certainly are major developments taking place throughout the commercial transport industry which will have a dramatic effect on the operation of both rail and road transport.

The technology for driverless trains is already in existence with London Underground advising that the start of this could be implemented within the next five years. I do not know if there are any plans for the implementation of such technology on the British National rail network, but doubtless if the plans are there for the London Underground then someone will also be thinking about that at national rail. The foregoing does not mean that no one would be sat in the cab of the trains but that person would only be monitoring the computers and software as the journey progressed and would probably also act as the overall train attendant as part of his duties.

In the British road haulage industry we already have heavy goods vehicles with “telematics” which are computerised monitors that will not allow the driver to get too close to the vehicle in front when travelling on motorways. These monitors also apply the brakes to the vehicle if the driver approaches a roundabout or junction at what the computer considers to be excessive speed. The system also monitors the drivers “economic driving”, over or under reving the engine and correct gear changing while driving.

The system also controls a number of cameras fitted to the vehicle to record all the actions of the driver during the course of the journey along with personally recording a video of him/her while sat in the seat of the vehicle also throughout the journey. The video and other information can be sent to the company control point as live images or uploaded to the same at the conclusion of the employee shift. All the above can be justified on the grounds of road safety along with company economics and doubtless will be justified in the rail industry in the same way.

However, the few months ago I was involved in carrying out a safety audit at a large distribution company and I was invited by the site director to have a look at their warehouse employee monitoring system which he seemed extremely proud of. The warehouse employees known as pickers have to wear a belt throughout the course of their shift which contains software which monitors all they are doing on a minute by minute basis. In the site director’s office there were several large monitors which gave a top-down map like view of the warehouse complex with all the employees being shown as green dots on the map. Should the employee stop for more than three minutes in any one position then the dot on the map would turn amber and the warehouse CCTV cameras would swing round towards him/her which then could also be viewed in the site director’s office along with several other supervisory positions.

Arguably, the most productive part of the employee monitoring system was that when an employee went to the toilet or water cooler etc, so the director advised. The system monitored how long the employee spent there and then as they approach the end of their shift through a pager on the belt he/she is informed how long they have spent in “non-productive activity” and this is then added in extra time to be worked at the conclusion of their shift. I would emphasise that there are no CCTV cameras in the toilets, just monitoring there but cameras everywhere else, yes


I apologise if anybody thinks I am off topic in the last part this posting as I thought I might give everyone a view of things to come for employees in the rail industry and perhaps many other places as well.

Anybody remember the George Orwell film 1984, well 30 years late, perhaps we are there


Bill
 
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This employee monitoring by the warehouse company seems to be a bit excessive. I could see this happening if there is a particular employee that spent a little too much time in the bathrooms, tardy from lunch, or tardy coming, in as this would be a sign of something wrong. I had an employee that had some issues with this and just as we suspected he was a drug user. His numerous breaks weren't due to stomach issues but instead to shoot up his drug du jour. After some confrontation, we were able to get him into a drug rehab center and whatever came of him I don't know.

As far as vehicle monitoring goes, this is a great idea. I've seen too many truck drivers texting and using their cell phones more often than the rest of the drivers. Considering the size of their vehicles and the loads they are carrying, this does present a safety issue.

John
 
Dubai metro

wholbr said:
The technology for driverless trains is already in existence with London Underground advising that the start of this could be implemented within the next five years.
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To add to that:

The technology is implemented on the Dubai Metro. The red line has been operational since September 9th, 2009.

Guinness World Records has declared Dubai Metro as the world's longest driverless metro network spanning at 75 kilometres (47 mi).

I had the joy of taking this metro a few weeks ago and it was very nice :).
 
Hi John, oknotsen and everybody.
JCitron said:
This employee monitoring by the warehouse company seems to be a bit excessive. I could see this happening if there is a particular employee that spent a little too much time in the bathrooms, tardy from lunch, or tardy coming, in as this would be a sign of something wrong. I had an employee that had some issues with this and just as we suspected he was a drug user. His numerous breaks weren't due to stomach issues but instead to shoot up his drug du jour. After some confrontation, we were able to get him into a drug rehab center and whatever came of him I don't know.

As far as vehicle monitoring goes, this is a great idea. I've seen too many truck drivers texting and using their cell phones more often than the rest of the drivers. Considering the size of their vehicles and the loads they are carrying, this does present a safety issue.
John
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John, with regards to the warehouse and employee monitoring, a colleague and myself spent three days there doing the safety audit after several “near miss safety incidents” at the site. On completion of our work we both agreed that it was the three most depressing days either of us has spent at any site since being involved in the business. There seemed to be no camaraderie amongst the employees which you would expect to encounter in normal warehouse environments.

In the foregoing, everyone just worked without conversation as the monitoring ensured that no one could speak to another employee for more than a couple of minutes without the CCTV cameras being brought to focus on them. As they all started and finished at different times I doubt whether they even got to know one another at all. One manager told me that employment turnover amongst the warehouse workers is over 48% per year, which I think states it all. Of course with such high unemployment levels amongst young people throughout Europe, employers do not care if they leave as there is someone waiting outside for the job.

With regard to the vehicle driver monitoring, one of the largest road transport unions in Britain went to one of the European Courts contesting that the camera in the cab was a violation of privacy amongst other items of contention. However, the court ruled that if you worked in an office or warehouse environment then your employer would be able to see you at work whenever he wished. Therefore if the technology was in place to allow your employer to actively witness your work as a driver then that only placed the driver employee in the same position of observation as the other employees within any company. That said, I feel that the much more militant rail unions in Britain may well take much more stronger action when camera technology is introduced into the cabs of the rail Power cars

oknotsen said:
To add to that:The technology is implemented on the Dubai Metro. The red line has been operational since September 9th, 2009.

Guinness World Records has declared Dubai Metro as the world's longest driverless metro network spanning at 75 kilometres (47 mi).

I had the joy of taking this metro a few weeks ago and it was very nice.
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Oknosen, many thanks for the information, but I wonder how it felt to be sat in a train knowing that there was no human being actually controlling what could possibly be your ultimate destination (LOL). As someone who ventures out on two or three rail trips per week I often take comfort in the thought that a skilled human being is actually sat up front with his hand on the brake lever ready to apply it if necessary. The foregoing is an especially poignant thought when you are standing up in the Buffet car, having a chat and travelling along at over 120 mph with a pint glass in your hand. It would be in that rather comfortable situation that you would just hope that on a driverless train the computer upfront did not suddenly decided to crash and slam on the brakes for no good reason. I mean, you could well finish up spilling your beer.

Bill
 
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wholbr said:
Oknosen, many thanks for the information, but I wonder how it felt to be sat in a train knowing that there was no human being actually controlling what could possibly be your ultimate destination (LOL). As someone who ventures out on two or three rail trips per week I often take comfort in the thought that a skilled human being is actually sat up front with his hand on the brake lever ready to apply it if necessary. The foregoing is an especially poignant thought when you are standing up in the Buffet car, having a chat and travelling along at over 120 mph with a pint glass in your hand. It would be in that rather comfortable situation that you would just hope that on a driverless train the computer upfront did not suddenly decided to crash and slam on the brakes for no good reason. I mean, you could well finish up spilling your beer.

Bill
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A lot of London Transport's trains these days run without drivers, docklands certainly, and many other routes as well. The computers are better at optimal driving so you can get more trains through a given section of track which means more passengers. This stuff is basically routine these days.

Cheerio John
 
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