Thread by @Chris_TheDriver

1/12 This report was written by a train driver following an incident on his train. It is a detailed summation of what happened when one of his passengers was taken ill on board…

2/12 Why do we need guards on trains, then?
Medical emergency on board? Passengers have phones, they can just dial 999 themselves, right?
Yesterday evening. Full and standing train, pretty much in the middle of nowhere - between Hope and Edale, in the Peak District.

3/12 I’d just looked at my watch – we were a couple of minutes early, which was good news as it meant that I’d be able to coast all the way down the other side of the hill for a gentler, more efficient ride than trying to keep to the fluctuating linespeed.

4/12 Guard knocks on my door – we’ve got a chap who needs *urgent* medical attention. No mobile phone signal, as is the case for most of this route, but he can use our GSM-R system to phone Control so that they can start to make some arrangements.

5/12 He then makes a PA announcement for any doctors on board to come to the front coach to meet him. We weigh up the options. The next stop is in just over 20 minutes, in Stockport. It’s no use stopping out of course at Edale – far too remote.

6/12 The same for Chinley, probably. Hazel Grove, 15 minutes away, is a possibility, and we know from our route knowledge that it’s near a major hospital too. He goes back into the train to do what he can.

7/12 Obviously, any prospect of coasting gently all the way into Stockport is out of the question now. We need to get there as soon as we safely can, and I’m able to focus fully on driving the train to do that because I know that my guard’s managing the situation behind me.

8/12 Out of Cowburn Tunnel, the guard (now back with the poorly passenger, and thankfully a doctor who’s responded to his PA call) gets a bit of phone signal back, enough to get through to the ambulance service directly to discuss the options.

9/12 They say that Stockport would be better for their response, even though it’ll take us a few minutes longer to get there. The guard relays that to me. I speak to the signaller, telling them what’s happening and asking for as clear a run as possible through

10/12 Hazel Grove and Edgeley Junctions into a platform at Stockport – especially since we’re a few minutes early, coming into a complex and congested bit of railway, there’s a risk otherwise that we’d be regulated for other trains to pass first.

11/12 Thankfully it turned out to be false alarm, a brief but very worrying medical episode. If it had been the real deal, though, one where every minute counts, the guard’s presence & assistance in managing the situation could well have made the difference between life & death.

12/12 Let the driver manage the train and the guard manage the passengers and #KeepTheGuardOnTheTrain