Southern has deemed you are not needed .... so no point dragging this up .... you HAVE LOST - GAME OVER.
I'm not sure if
Darandio has confirmed if they're a Southern conductor or not. I didn't think they were, though I could be mistaken.
In any case, Southern hasn't deemed all conductors unnecessary, or that none of their training could be carried over to when they are OBSs (however limited in the scope, and
evacuation happens to be within that scope), which rather weakens your point.
I can not see why you continue this pointless argument.
Oh and yes, on my regularly used lines ... I reckon I could work out my location to within a mile ... while some drivers/guards walking to a phone 3 miles away when I have made it to a station 2 miles away.
They almost certainly wouldn't be using a phone 3 miles away - you are basically trying to (once again) extrapolate an error on the part of staff from an example about them finding the nearest usable way to protect the line.
I've lost track as to exactly how you've derived that sort of theory from what's been posted, but it seems you're using fixed distances to a phone - stated as an example - to be a reason that you are better in a train accident because you will always find a station or gate (which would probably be locked and maybe topped with razor wire, but never mind) no more than 2 miles away, and get home before everyone else.
The train crew in an incident would make a decision on which way to go to lay protection and seek assistance, which might even be the same way as you, or if not, a quicker route to assistance than you'd know (because passengers tend not to know the meaning and location of every lineside phone, and I'm afraid you sound like you probably don't, for every route you travel on as a passenger); also, although you might be able to wander off home safely, other trains may be affected by the incident, which is the whole point of emergency protection and finding a phone if needed.
You may also be interested to know that it's increasingly common for conductors to be briefed to try to get a phone signal by periodically checking in positions of safety, in the course of walking down the track to lay emergency protection and try to find a further method of communication. It may not be explicitly mentioned in the Rule Book, but if the mobile phone becomes a serviceable telephone, that could be very useful. So not only do they do the same phone and signal as you, but in addition, they have certified route knowledge to use in that phone call (including the landmarks around the accident and where they've walked to), knowledge of what to ask for during the call, and what equipment to use in what order to stop any train which appears in the mean time, all the while being in a position of safety which is precisely calculated to try to prevent injury by turbulence or debris. And if that doesn't work, they'll carry on to a lineside phone, which for all you know is hidden in a shrub behind a substation which you've never heard of.
Lastly, I hope you're aware that you don't need to go 3 or even 2 miles to reach the full distance for laying detonators in an emergency. So the conductor is still quicker than you.
I really don't think you can help much...
Southern is now 73% DOO .... that is the majority ... so now the minority does not have to res0ect the majority .... which was half your initial argument. As previously said, you change the rules as you go along.
GAME OVER on Southern
We don't yet know what will happen if one of the 73% is involved in an accident, and it almost certainly won't be safer than if there was a conductor [guard] to assist passengers. In other words, the accident which is waiting to happen will not be dealt with as effectively as it would with a fully-competent second person -
double the train crew per number of passengers.
Why would the driver of the train behind not have stopped at a red signal having seen the yellow and double yellows before it. I am struggling to understand why he needs to know where the failed train has stopped when he should not be on the same section of track ... honest question ... I must be missing something.
You are missing something.
Broadly speaking, if a train is declared a failure and requires assistance, the assisting train will be required to pass a protecting signal at danger with the authority of the controlling signaller. They will then proceed to a point 300 yards from the failed train, at which point they will come across detonators and an appropriate hand-signal instructing them to stop. This is the "assistance protection".
The assisting train should be travelling at no more than a speed from which they could stop within 300 yards (largely at the judgment of the driver, but usually no more than 20mph at the most). However...
...because the failed train has stopped "somewhere" in section, the driver of the assisting train may not be able to be given absolutely exact information about where that 300 yard boundary is. Drivers are not accustomed to knowing the exact braking points for every hedgerow and garden shed in a given section, so they need to drive at a slow speed until they see the member of crew giving a "danger" handsignal on their approach. The detonators act as a backup for that; especially in poor visibility, as yesterday. If they set off the dets, the train must be stopped, and guidance sought from the waiting crew member about where the failed train is.
(I'll leave out criticism of the fact you've assumed this is a four-aspect colour-light signalling area.)
