I am utterly astounded to see what I presume are qualified railway workers saying there is no safety risk from a train failing to call at a station. As I have said on previous threads, whilst I am not a train driver, I am however in safety-critical railway employment... and consider this to be a quite inexcusable point of view.
As above, passengers should not need to expect a train which is advertised and booked to stop at a station to come flying through at whatever speed beyond that which it would normally enter the platform when stopping. Just because passengers "should" stand behind the yellow line (where there is one - see also major stations such as East Croydon as one example) does not mean they always will - indeed, we are all human and we certainly are not blessed with the ability to randomly work out whether a train driver has forgotten to stop today.
And how about those people onboard the train? You approach a station, getting ready to alight, and it doesn't slow down and zooms past the platform. "How weird" you or I on this forum might think. But "Oh [insert choice of swear word]" is what a 'normal' might think, and pull the green handle. Or the red one. Or any of the ones which jams on the brakes and possibly opens the doors. People do not take kindly to missing their stops when they have made the effort to get off, and rather more worryingly, they do not find it amusing when they think their driver is incompetent or unconscious - even if they are not, and they are just not educated on the intricacies of the railways. Not to say that the Manea situation wasn't mitigated (maybe by an immediate announcement) but some such situations may not be.
As railway professionals we must consider the reason we run the railway, which is for the customer (passenger or freight) and not our own convenience and amusement, and thus it is very serious if one of the passengers on what would otherwise be our very own train set come within inches of a train flying through a station where it could otherwise be reasonably expected to call. And for that matter, I (and my employers) also regard PIS errors to be extremely serious and a reportable matter where they do not indicate non-stop trains.
I know it is hard to concentrate at all times - I have been up at 0315 examining the line for people's electrocuted bodies, crossed virtually unlit third rail track in the pouring rain, dispatched trains during thick snowfall, you name it - the distractions are all there, and we can succumb at any point, but that does not mean that making some sort of mental error should not be examined and double-checked in case it could be prevented again. If it can't be, than fair enough. Someone who has marginally slipped up against an excellent safety record may just need to be regarded as having had "one of those days" and maybe there should be no disciplinary action. On the other hand, I have it on good authority that drivers have been fired due to trying to blag their way out of failing to call somewhere. There are massive differences per situation and unusual calling patterns can influence bad behaviour unwittingly, so I'm sure there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the Manea incident. But that does not mean it was safe.
Fortunately that particular point is very much an outsider's point of view. If the points had that severe a restriction over them, either speed limits or the signalling system (or other local instructions) would check down the speed of the train. (As above!)
hock:
