.... I would have thought that there would be a procedure for this kind of situation - it's not as if it's unpredictable that the last train of the night may be late. Had I fallen down the gap between the train and the platform I may very well not be typing this now.
The lights at my station are programmed to stay on a reasonable time after the last train is due, but they don't stay on all night as the company is on an energy saving quest. Should the lighting be faulty, this would be reported to the maintenance contractor as an urgent fault, but obviously someone has to notice it and report it.
Question is - does Station operator TOC know that Train operators TOC's train is running late and will therefore be calling at their station when all of the lights have gone off?...
They'll know it's late, will they know the lights are off? Will they be able to judge how late it will be when it gets to the station.
....Whenever we have a fault a message is put out on Tyrell... but whether other operators who use the station also get that same message I don't know....
Northern has given stations use of Tyrellcheck, so they can see other TOC messages, even guards have access to it.
....Alternatively motion sensors (which are increasingly common in offices and similar) which could turn the lights on if there are people moving around on the platform (so lights on all the time usually until after the last train but if it is late then the lights would be activated by the people on the platform).
Wildlife? Homeless people? Drunks who missed the last train? Leaves blowing in the wind? Plenty of things would activate the lights and NIMBYs might not appreciate that.
TPE could have simply not stopped and proceeded to the next station and got people taxis from there depending on how many people there was getting off....
Yeah that'll go down well, especially if it's a lighting fault and the passengers have a connection to make. Some places, Kingussie for example, don't have any taxis companies for miles and others, Penrith for example, have single driver firms, who probably don't do late nights.
....Or better still someone phone up Northern control and say we are late can you make sure that the lights are left on until we depart the station.
But there is to much common sense in that.
Sam
Or perhaps it's unrealistic in some cases.
My station, for example, is single manned, so either they call me up at midnight and get out of bed to turn the lights on, or they phone the local manager, who has to go to the key holding station for a set of keys, then go to my station, go into the office, get the key for the light override and then go out to turn the lights on, wait for the trains to go, turn the lights off, put the light key back, lock up the office, take the keys back to the key holding station and go home again.
And just so there is no confusion, if they get me up at midnight to do that I will not be fit for work the next day, so that's one closed office.