Rail Connectivity
Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor
In the wake of the D.C. Metrorail accident a video has surfaced. No, not a video of the accident, instead a video of a Metrorail operator texting on his Blackberry while the train is under automatic control. It’s time for someone to step in and put an end to operator texting once and for all.
I listen to sports talk radio in the morning on my way to work and this morning they were discussing young players coming into the NFL and how they don’t understand a lot of the situations they could wind up in. One of the ex-pro players on the program said the prevailing thought in NFL locker rooms was, “That won’t happen to me.†I think this is probably the same thought going through operators who text while running trains.
You would think after the Metrolink crash and after the MBTA crash that other train operators would get it — don’t text while you’re on the job. Evidently that’s not the case. What is it going to take to get operators to understand what they are doing is dangerous to themselves and everyone on board?
WMATA has stepped up and changed its policy in regards to texting while on the job. It used to have a Three Strike policy — two suspensions and then dismissal — but that has changed to a zero-tolerance policy. Now any operator caught texting while operating a vehicle will be automatically dismissed. I applaud their policy. In fact, I think it should be instituted in every system. But it’s still not enough.
There’s a funny thing about laws. They’re only as good as the way you police them. Think about driving for a minute. If the speed limit is 65 mph how fast do you drive? Now if you knew that the police officer sitting there by the side of the road would never pull you over until you broke 72 mph, how fast would you drive? It’s human nature to push the limits of a situation until we know what the real limits are.
Will knowing that you can get dismissed immediately for texting cause some Metrorail operators to stop doing it? Probably. But there will be others who push it until that first dismissal happens. And what if, God forbid, there is another accident in that time?
What’s the solution? Take the phones away.
I’ve heard the arguments that operators need them in case of a family emergency. Really? So if they get an emergency call or text what are they supposed to do now? They run the risk of getting fired if they answer it. And meanwhile it’s temptation in a pocket just waiting to be misused.
At work I have two cell phones (both usually off when I am here) and a landline I can be reached at. If there is an emergency and my wife can’t reach me, she could always call our switchboard and have me paged. Why is this so difficult a concept for transit agencies?
Operators are in constant and/or immediate contact with rail operations while they’re on the job. If there is an emergency it could be relayed through rail ops to them. Heck, set up an emergency phone number only for employee family members to call.
The solution is simple and needs to be implemented immediately. Take the phones away. Really, what are they going to do if there is an emergency, stop the train and go home?
A call for nominations for the Railway Interiors Innovation and Excellence Awards from the folks at Railway Interiors International to finish this week:
The Railway Interiors Innovation and Excellence Awards are designed to recognize and reward the increasing sophistication of railcar interior design, equipment, technology and furnishings.
Covering every class of passenger rail vehicle from local light rail to intercontinental high-speed services, nominations can be put forward by anyone working in the sector.
The jury is made up of 30 internationally renowned independent industry journalists, passenger representative groups and consultants.
So get ready to nominate your favorite railcar interior! Here are the categories:
• Design of the Year
• Passenger Comfort Innovation of the Year
• Safety/Accessibility Innovation of the Year
• Security Innovation of the Year
• Passenger Infotainment Innovation of the Year
• Refurbishment of the Year
• Passenger Service Innovation of the Year
• Innovation of the Year (Awarded at the show)
The awards will be presented at a prestigious ceremony on day two of the Railway Interiors Expo this November in Cologne, Germany. Make sure your favorite project doesn’t get missed off the nominations list!
Send details of your favorite project to railwayinteriors@ukintpress.com
The Rules
Please note nominations must refer to passenger rail carriages entering service between November 1, 2008 and November 1, 2009. Carriages undergoing final shakedown trials may be entered, concepts may not.
Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
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July 11th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
On the Calgary Light Rail, about 15 years back, I got a late night ride with a motorman on a trip, and noticed he woule occasionally roll his hand on a “ball” protruding from the dashtop. Every so often he repeated the motion, and I asked him. He replied the ball had to be “rolled” within every minute, or buzzer would sound, shortly thereafter the brakes would apply. He said he never wanted to hear the buzzer, because that was noted on the trip recorder.
Running an electric train is not as mentally challenging as other motive power, and seems to indicate need for some combination of technique & maybe financial, incentives. A financial incentive could be much lower base pay scales, with attention to “proof of alertness” run after run, to merit more $$.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
As a former long-time operating employee, it’s amazing to see the number of personal toys that have come into the workplace over the years.
Many old-timers here remember when most systems wouldn’t allow operators to have transistor radios. That evolved from Walkmans to CD players, and then iPods. Being wired up was unprofessional enough, but now we have a generation of workers that carry mobile phones. Initially, having a mobile phone is no sin, but the blatent use/misuse of these devices have gotten the industry in serious trouble.
Setting a ‘zero tollerance’ policy is one thing. The question is, are we addressing the issue in training? Most transit buses and railcars are eqipped with standard and emergency communications with a dispatcher or operations control center. So most transit operators don’t need them on the job. Do we really need to ban them totally, or can we institute policy to ask that operating employees keep them holstered? Maybe that’s too optimistic, and probably won’t work.
Maybe if the instruction departments challenged operating employees to discourage their use on duty? I can understand needing to be in contact (off duty) during a lunch break or a swing shift. Certainly after the shift is over. Maybe institute guidelines as you would smoking. Personally, I think banning them totally is extreme and autocratic. I’d rather see a comprimise. Unfortunately, there will always be the few bad apples that will wreck the quality of the work environment for the masses. So, while I don’t condone taking cell phones away, I understand the bans.
I encourage an open dialog with employees and management to discuss the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Maybe there’s a happy medium…
July 15th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
We already have rules against distractions in the workplace. Let’s stop blaming the device and go after performance. Anyone who tries to blame the cell phone is just jumping on a bandwagon. Either you paid attention or you didn’t; who cares if it was a newspaper, unauthorized guest, or some electronic gadget?