Why stop?

[Nick_Burman]

While watching some branchline zenmen tenbou videos on Youtube, I noticed that trains call at all "halts" (to use the British term) regardless if there are any passengers wanting to board or alight. Isn't this a rather wasteful practice and wouldn't it make more sense to make lesser-used stopping places request stops? Train slows down (but doesn't stop) on approach, if there is anyone on the platform he/she hails the motorman; to get off, passenger asks conductor on advance or presses buzzer to alert driver. It would save a lot of energy and wear and tear, which would be a boon especially for the "third-sector" rural railways.

cheers NB

[espire]

That's an interesting proposition!

The only issue I can think of is that a potential stop messes up the timetable's accuracy. There are surely ways around that, however.

[The_Ghan]

In Sydney they don't slow down or stop, even if scheduled to.  The number of times I've been stranded because the driver of the train I was on decided to skip a couple of stations to make up time ... Not to mention the opposite.  Just a few km up the line from my local station is the EMU depot and railway sheds.  Sometimes my service gets terminated at that station and 50-100 passengers are left waiting for the next train that stops at my station ... often a 20 minute wait.

Cheers

The_Ghan

[keitaro]

In Sydney they don't slow down or stop, even if scheduled to.  The number of times I've been stranded because the driver of the train I was on decided to skip a couple of stations to make up time ... Not to mention the opposite.  Just a few km up the line from my local station is the EMU depot and railway sheds.  Sometimes my service gets terminated at that station and 50-100 passengers are left waiting for the next train that stops at my station ... often a 20 minute wait.

Cheers

The_Ghan

lol happens to me all the time too!!!!

[westfalen]

I stopped at a station I wasn't supposed to a while back and a couple of people still got off.

Back OT I've noticed quite often in Japan I was the only passenger on a railcar on some backwater branch line and the driver dutifully stopped at each deserted station (precisely on the stopping mark on the platform) even though it was obvious even with the language barrier that I wasn't getting off. I guess the timetable and rule book rules.

[marknewton]

...The number of times I've been stranded because the driver of the train I was on decided to skip a couple of stations to make up time...

Nigel, it's not the driver's responsibility to keep time, it's the guard's. And neither crew member has the authority to skip stops - that decision is made by the train controllers and conveyed to the crew by issuing a transposition slip. But every now and then a crew will miss a stop because they misread their diagram, or they simply forgot! 

I know what you mean about down trains being terminated at Mortdale - that's usually because the train is defective, and the quickest way to sort the problem out is to run the train empty into the shed and do a set change in there.

Cheers,

Mark.



Cheers,

Mark.

[The_Ghan]

...The number of times I've been stranded because the driver of the train I was on decided to skip a couple of stations to make up time...

Nigel, it's not the driver's responsibility to keep time, it's the guard's. Blatent buck-passing and/or QA failure.  Both should be held accountable.  And neither crew member has the authority to skip stops - that decision is made by the train controllers and conveyed to the crew by issuing a transposition slip. How long does that process take?  10 minutes?  Surely there would be enough time to warn the passengers instead of leaving them further down the line. Irrespective of how or why it happens, it is unacceptable to leave passengers unprepared and uninformed.  But every now and then a crew will miss a stop because they misread their diagram, or they simply forgot!    Well, we can't expect Australian train drivers to take their job seriously, can we ... I wonder how popular I'd be if I'd designed you a new house and forgotten about the laundry?   

I know what you mean about down trains being terminated at Mortdale - that's usually because the train is defective, and the quickest way to sort the problem out is to run the train empty into the shed and do a set change in there.  With specific regard to Mortdale, I presume neither the driver or the guard has this authority either ... so the decision is taken by controllers again?  Either way, why not pull another set out of the yard and have it waiting on the other platform to transfer passengers and continue the service?  Someone joining the service further down the line would experience nothing but a 5 minute delay.  However, with the method employed today someone who has been waiting 15 minutes at Como now has to wait another 20 minutes.  Could the controllers not at least issue a transposition slipto the next service to make the extra stops along the way?  Geez ... let me grab my hat and coat ... I'll come over and fix this myself ... 

Cheers,

Mark.



Cheers,

Mark.

Things have to change if shitty City Rail wants a better reputation ... 

Cheers

The_Ghan

[Mudkip Orange]

"Flag stops" are pretty common stateside. Amtrak does them, as does the South Shore Line.

A lot of the more exurban US LRT (Trenton-Camden, P&W, etc) would be interurbans in Japan, and of course those are all "pull the stop cord or you're not getting off," like a bus. On the P&W you actually have to hit a button on the platform that activates a signal upstream; if you're just chilling out there the train will blast right past.