How can you be both gapped and planning to use the gradient to roll at the same time?
No idea. Perhaps take the brake off and roll
Seems that once again it's happened outside "office hours", when hardly anyone with any authority is on. How long would it have taken one of the diesels normally on Stewarts Lane to come across and give a push? About 5 minutes. Was there even anyone on duty with the authority to ask for this? No.
Person in authority - please use one of the diesels normally on Stewarts Lane to come across and give a push?
other person - sorry chief. No driver/Driver out of hours/shunter only competent in the depot/wrong coupling/DBS want loads of cash etc etc etc
While in 1982 sending a 73 from Stewarts Lane would have been easy it is a bit harder in 2018.
What strikes me on with these incidents is how long it seems to take to move through the various options. You may have a hideous number of people stuck in a very small space per person with no water, food, toilets or general comfort. That is unnecessary in most cases if people are on the ball. Why don't they always err on the side of caution and be ready to implement all the steps rather than waiting for one to fail before moving on to considering the next option. So, if other traction might be required, call for it straight away.
it is almost as if no one has thought of this!
You can call for assisting traction all day long. it has to be found and delivered to site. That might mean knocking someone up to drive the things and getting him or her to the depot then finding a path for the train to site. That means finding somewhere to park the passenger trains to clear the line. You also need a shunter to connect the trains. Bets give him a bell to.
also consider that if you want a rescue loco you need to rip that off a commercial service. You have to find somewhere to park that train out of the way and work with the FOC to make sure they have resource to move the train when you release the loco
Oh your hour has gone..................
For me, any train stuck within the busier parts of the network should be considered a 'red' alert. Conditions are likely to deteriorate quickly, all reasonable steps need to be implemented immediately to move that train to a station. This also reduces the risk of knock on problems of a similar nature on other trains that might become trapped behind the existing failed train. Personally I think this should instantly become a BTP matter, with BTP setting up a command that oversees the rail company professionals and makes sure they are happy that all possible coordination is happening. The aim in London should be very simple - de-train within an hour if other solutions have failed. Do I care if my sleeper goes down in the highlands? No, I enjoy a lie in and probably money back and I have everything I need on the train for a good while. This sort of situation is completely different to that but it is not clear the processes acknowledge that.
Great - let BTP run things. Can they arrange to get the MOM from base to site any quicker? Can they get enough PTS trained staff to site to help get the passengers off? Can they get the fire brigade there to help off load any difficult cases? Can they arrange to get the power shut off and the track isolated any quicker? Can they get the possessions agreed in that time? Can they arrange to de energise everything? Can they arrange to stop all the other trains on the line in stations so no one else is stranded? Can they get lights on site and safe walking routes laid out to the nearest access point? Can they then arrange people in groups to walk them through the site and make sure no one wanders off? Can they do all this inside an hour? Are you sure?
As for passengers pulling the alarms, if rolling back really was a viable option did they really do a good job of telling passengers not to do that? I am afraid it is odds on that on any train in London you are likely to have people who will start to panic at being stuck in a confined space. The only way to stop those people is to make sure somebody is pretty much shouting with a loudspeaker not to do whatever it is you don't want them to do. Did anybody do that? I doubt it. I am personally doubtful that the option of rolling back was stopped by passengers and if it was I am not sure the blame lies with the passengers.
On a single manned train when the driver is trying to fix faults, liaise with signalers, speak to control, confirm arrangements AND make announcements could it be that task overload is reached?
I actually catch this service regularly and I am about 6 months out of a health problem that would have caused me problems in this scenario. I won't go into further detail but I absolutely empathise with passengers who believe contingency plans could and should be much, much better.
I don't think anyone disagrees with the final point but it much harder than you or many posters are prepared to recognise.
EDIT - I am not trying to be rsey. These are prima facie sensible ideas. The problem is the real world gets in the way. I doubt an hour is a realistic target because of that. It could take someone that long to get from base to site through traffic.
I think that programmes such as Paddington 24/7 have shown us is that the railway is extremely poor at; a) working out what has gone wrong, b) working out what to do about it and c) communicating that information internally (let alone to passengers).
I disagree - it doesn't show a & b at all. it shows how situations change very quickly as more detailed information comes in.
It does show a bit of C although i would suggest that is more down to the fragmented nature of the rail industry in the UK post privatization.
Shame they didn't have the facility to do just that for Grenfell Tower. If it has been used in the US and Poland, then surely it needs to be made available in the UK too when there is serious risk of inevitable death and no other way to communicate that!
But the people there followed the advice given. They were told to stay put and await rescue.
And it shows a lot of it.
