Most people probably won’t get a chance to see inside the EMU mock up and while I posted some images a few weeks ago, here is a video of AT showing some members of the transport committee (along with our former admin) through along with an explanation of some of the features.
Click to open the video (sorry it can’t be embedded)
Thank you Matt, very interesting, I’m still listening
Hopefully you will be able to come out to NZ to once these are in operation to see your creation come to life
The video mentions a train manager (conductor), so Auckland will be locked into a 2-person crew. Wellington, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth are all OK with a single-person crew. Why lock into high operating costs ?
There are controls for the driver to operate the doors, so train managers are at least optional, so probably will be looked at later on.
Train Managers are a requirement on passenger trains in New Zealand, whether they are suburban, long distance, charter or heritage trains. That’s unlikely to ever change.
Wellington is not driver only. They have train managers as well.
Who says the rules couldn’t be changed?
The Unions…………………….
Nothing has ever changed ever, everyone on this site knows that.
Yes it’s a real pain having to wait for my man with the flag to get ready every time I want to go for a drive.
It’s not a question of whether or not the rules can be changed, and it’s not a union thing. It’s a question of practicality and safety. There are too many functions of a TM that you can’t easily do away with.
New Zealand has one of the most slim-lined ground staff structures on the planet. We don’t have staff at lots of stations and signal boxes up and down the network anymore, like they still do in the UK, or Australia. The trade off is that when things turn pear shaped, a lot of situations are much easier to deal with if a TM is onboard.
And I can’t ever see NZTA signing off on a plan for passengers to self-evac in tunnels.
I don’t have a problem with having a TM on board, but having 2 or 3 is just overkill. Should be just 1 driver + 1 TM = 2 staff per train in total.
Adelaide has had driver-only trains for its DMU’s since the 1980′s, and it there are 2 tunnels on the network. There are hardly any staffed stations. Trains have ticket machines on board, and tickets are checked at the main Adelaide station.
Melbourne has had driver-only EMU’s for about 20 years. The majority of stations are unstaffed, but have ticket machines. Vline’s DMU’s (which go between Melbourne and country areas) all have only one train manager/conductor, regardless of train length.
Perth’s EMU’s are all driver-only. Most stations are unstaffed, but they do have ticket machines. Services after 7:30 pm usually have 2 train security staff, but they don’t check for tickets.
The advantage of having driver-only trains is that with reduced operating costs, trains can be run more frequently. There are times when it would be advantageous to have train managers
- in the first morning off-peak service, when there are more elderly passengers requiring assistance
- in the evening, to improve security perceptions
So whats the new graphical signalling system called? I’d like to read more.
European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Train_Control_System
“What’s the top speed?”
“How long does it take to stop?”
“What’s the acceleration rate?”
“How many staff are on board?”…
Crikey, you’d think that members of the “Transport Committee” would read the literature before asking silly questions. I felt sorry for the CAF guy.
Great trains though! Can’t wait to ride one! Thanks for the video!
@Malcolm, we are not talking passenger staff, but rather network staff. The Melbourne network requires dozens of staff on the ground to keep things rolling.
Also, the places you mention have different regulatory requirements. Evacuation procedures require staff, and just because that isn’t the case in Adelaide doesn’t mean we should follow suit. One thing you’ll never see here is cuts to rail safety.
Yes and we’ll never cut corners on mine safety….. Relax building standards nor environmental controls (like kiwi fruit polen importing rules). Never is a long time.
You’re pointing to safety cuts elsewhere to justify doing same with rail?
The irony in people pointing out places like Melbourne as examples of how our network should be run is that they have a heavier reliance on human tasks than Auckland does!
Interestingly New York is one of the few places where their trains still run with 2 staff members and even they are desperate to do away with that.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/07/why-us-transit-systems-are-still-so-far-away-converting-driverless-trains/2504/
I don’t get it, Melbourne has 24km of tunnel on it’s city loop system and driver only operation. Surely they don’t just ignore the possibility of evacuation? One assumes they have procedures in place where drivers and control room staff manage evacuations. Would it really be that hard for us to do the same?!
Even the London Underground is DOO – there is no reason whatsoever why Auckland can’t be the same.
Absolutely. It’s just narrow minded “we’ve always done it this way so clearly no other way could work” thinking which is used to justify keeping train managers.
Vancouver and Paris both have completely driverless subway systems which are predominantly underground – no reason having a driver is necessary.
As indeed does Copenhagen; and Danes dream health and safety!
There are very few metro systems that have TMs anymore, however it is still quite common on commuter rail. Sydney still has them, but I heard they are going to start phasing them out as the newer trains go into service. Only time will tell if that happens. If Auckland is thinking of having the driver + 2 or more TM/PO per 6 car unit, then they’re only going to keep costs high. Newer trains have cameras throughout the whole train, it’s not necessary like it was the old trains. I don’t buy this arguement that a TM can save the day if there was an emergency in a tunnel. Using a Sydney example; if there was a major incident in the city loop at peak time, with an 8 carriage train full with approx 1000 people, what can the TM realistically do that the driver couldn’t?
Reading the rail funding figures in the Regional Land Transport Programme shows that rail operating costs are planned to decline fairly significantly in the years after electrification is implemented.
If you check out page 60 of the final RLTP you can see this quite clearly: http://www.aucklandtransport.govt.nz/improving-transport/plans-proposals/IntegratedTravel/Documents/AT-RLTP-final.pdf
12/13 funding – $96 million
13/14 funding – $105.6 million
14/15 funding – $80 million
That $25 million decline in funding need between 13/14 and 14/15 isn’t going to happen magically. Of course much of it will be from the electric trains being cheaper to run than our current clapped out diesels, but I suspect a lot will also come from reduced staffing requirements.