Wyrleybart
Established Member
The point surely is that 196s were designed and built for DCO operation, so the DfT who authorised their acquisition and operation for WMR were not intending to have conductors on them from the start. Big and expensive mistake in my opinion, as someone opposed to driver only operation.The fact doors can't be released unless a driver is keyed on is rediculous though and needs a proper fix rather than pay drivers 2 minutes longer. Been several occasions already as far as I'm aware where crew and passengers have been trapped on a train.