Edinburgh2000
Member
- Joined
- 28 Apr 2017
- Messages
- 38
Train drivers need to do route knowledge because they do not drive on line of sight.
The actual process of driving a train and getting it to stop and start might be simple but, as ever, that's not the difficult part. The skill comes in stopping it in the right place time and time again irrespective of the conditions.
Careful where you are going with that argument. You are making the case for automated driving of all fast trains. Tram drivers, for example, need to use their judgement based on what they see from their windscreen. You are saying that high speed train drivers are automotons and simply perform pre-programmed actions based on their route knowledge, their knowledge of the weather, and the state of the lineside signals, something a machine could do much more reliably. If drivers cannot stop in the distance they can see, they are adding no more safety than a machine can.