1/57 Automate the Railway!

It's been a while since I addressed this in some detail, so let's have a look, shall we? My sources are quoted but any errors are my own, for which I apologise in advance. Strap yourself in, it's a long'un! (Sorry)
TL;DR starts on tweet 51/57. 2/57 So, ASLEF have concluded their negotiations with the Government over drivers’ pay for the three years from 2021. Yippee! It’s now going to a vote of the members and, from my vantage point, I can see the deal being accepted. So are we all happy now?

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.

1/76 Hello my lovely followers! You might have noticed a slight… *edge* to my more recent activities on Twitter. If this has become a little boring, then I apologise but, you see, there is so much misinformation around the current 2/76 industrial unrest in my part of the world right now. Chiefly amongst this erroneous information is that the drivers are striking and that they are overpaid anyway because all they do is pull a lever and push a button.

1/5 This is a Facebook post by Oliver. I won’t give his surname. He works on the Railway, not on my part of the network, though. It explains what is going on. 2/5

1/31 The other day, I replied to a tweet which said that automating the railway would be easy and I wanted to add it to my list of threads, so I have reworked it slightly and here it is. 2/31 Will full automation of the railway ever happen? Yes, probably at some point. Will it happen in my lifetime (I am currently 55, fast approaching 56)? No. Why not? Simply put, cost.

1/41 Yesterday’s (Monday 11th April) unfortunate events, where a person was struck by a train between Wimbledon and Surbiton, and the subsequent disruption caused by this, highlights just how sizeable the knock-on effects of an incident can be. 2/41 I thought I would write this explainer to give some insight into how we deal with incidents and then how we get everything running smoothly again and why, despite our best efforts, this can take much longer than any of us would wish.

1/29 Have you ever looked at the tracks and seen equipment in between the running rails and thought, “I wonder what that does?” This is part of a series of threads to explain some of the equipment we use and how it helps the crew of a train. This time, ASDO! 2/29 After the advent of trains with sliding doors which are released by the train crew, and the increase in safety standards which said that doors could only be allowed to open if they were on the platform, the length of a train used on any route was

1/26 After yesterday’s problems on our network, many may be left asking themselves, “What IS a Track Circuit and how does its failure affect travel so badly?” 2/26 One of the key principles of operating trains is that it is important that they are kept well apart from each other. If you are operating at speeds of 100mph or more (we don’t go faster than 100 on our network but other networks have higher speed limits)

1/23 It’s been a while since I did a thread, so I thought it about time I get writing. This time: Signalling! 2/23 Trains can only move if there is signalling to control them. When you are travelling at speeds as high as 100mph (the maximum on our network, although other domestic networks have limits as high as 125mph and it is hoped that this can be increased still further.

1/21 With Summer coming to an end and poorer weather on the horizon, a Train Driver’s thoughts start to turn towards Leaf Fall Season but just how slippery do tiny leaves make the railway? And what can be done to reduce the risks? 2/21 “Leaves on the line” is a perennial favourite of the press for a bit of comedy value but, as any Driver will tell you, the dangers are very real and a professional Driver will look to mitigate the risks as part of his or her driving during the slippery season.

1/25 Just checking in to mention that I am still route learning. I’ve been asked a number of times what route learning constitutes – surely you just follow the tracks? It is, however, more intricate than that so I thought I’d create a thread 2/25 to explain what knowing your “roads” means to a driver. Currently, I am learning Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour, probably one of the most complex routes that a Guildford driver will have to learn. I apologise if it is a little long but there is a lot to learn!