The FT: Chris Grayling looks to Japan to make the most of privatisation.

[Gostav]

I can picture Grayling suggesting that the British train drivers start adopting the Japanese drivers habit of pointing at the signal and saying what the signal shows!

I think it is a legacy from the old day when no cab signal and poor view by steam locomotives, the driver usually confirmed the signal and called "Clear!" or "(arm) up!"for fireman who also checked the signal. That is "Pointing and Calling"

 

[RailWonderer]

There is a counterpart in Hokkaido Island called the the Soya Main Line, which runs from Asahikawa to Nayoro to Wakkanai (the northernmost station in Japan). It mirrors the Far North Line in many ways: There is a southern section which has increasing commuter traffic (Asahikawa to Nayoro/Inverness to Tain) and a northern section which passes through some very isolated parts of the country as well as linking several small towns together (Bifuka, Toyotomi/Lairg and Helmsdale) to a port at the very northern end (Wakkanai/Thurso).

It amazes me how Wakkanai has a new glass building, I can't imagine Thurso getting the same treatment, like a Norman Foster designed sleek futuristic station building with a congratulations-for-arriving-here cafeteria. I bet a few would actually do the trip for a novelty factor and passenger traffic would bump up per year but it would never be viable.

 

[swaldman]

I think it is a legacy from the old day when no cab signal and poor view by steam locomotives, the driver usually confirmed the signal and called "Clear!" or "(arm) up!"for fireman who also checked the signal. That is "Pointing and Calling"

Nah, the Japanese do this everywhere, not just when driving trains. I think the idea is to associate remembering to check something with an action, and have that action become muscle memory.

I've also heard arguments against it, I think along the lines of "it means you don't really notice what you're checking... so you check it but don't see if it's wrong"

(EDIT: I mean, it may be that people did this in steam locos, and for all I know this could be the origin. But the Japanese do it in places unrelated to railways too)

 

[AndrewE]

It was crystal clear to me. If elderly people who live rurally cannot drive to the station they need some other provision.

That's what taxis are for...

 

[DanDaDriver]

Nah, the Japanese do this everywhere, not just when driving trains. I think the idea is to associate remembering to check something with an action, and have that action become muscle memory.

I've also heard arguments against it, I think along the lines of "it means you don't really notice what you're checking... so you check it but don't see if it's wrong"

(EDIT: I mean, it may be that people did this in steam locos, and for all I know this could be the origin. But the Japanese do it in places unrelated to railways too)

Good old NTS

 

[Busaholic]

In the unlikely event that Chris Grayling had been appointed by the Japanese to be in charge of their railways, he would have had to fall on his sword (probably literally) within the first week.

 

[Muzer]

I can picture Grayling suggesting that the British train drivers start adopting the Japanese drivers habit of pointing at the signal and saying what the signal shows!

It's actually a really good thing for safety. Psychologically it works in a similar way to things like checklists, used very successfully in the aviation industry - if you actually have to do something active whenever you see a signal it reduces the chance of you misreading a signal by habit. Of all the things you could have picked on the Japanese for doing, you have to choose an actually good idea of theirs!