Train and Tram Drivers
Drive trains and trams to transport passengers and freight on rail networks.
A peak hour on tram route 12
You are a tram driver on a busy city route, three stops into the morning peak and running a few minutes behind. It is ten past eight and the tram is full. Commuters are checking their watches and the timetable is slipping. Over the next hour you will weigh being on time against what is safe and fair for everyone on board and on the street.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I use a wheelchair and I need the ramp. I know you are running late, but the last tram went straight past me and I have an appointment I cannot miss. Will you stop for me?
Keep the doors shut and tell him over the speaker the next tram is close behind
You gain a minute, but a rider is left on the stop for the second time that morning. The next tram is just as crowded, and you have made a small problem for him a bigger one.
Stop and help him board, then drive hard to win back the lost time
He gets on, but pushing the speed to catch up makes for a rough ride, and a standing passenger nearly falls. Being late is a smaller problem than a tram that is thrown around.
Stop, put the ramp out, wait until he is settled and let the passengers know
It takes two minutes. A few passengers sigh and most nod. Mr Okonkwo is on his way, and you have shown the whole tram that everyone gets a turn. Control can adjust the timetable, but a missed rider cannot be undone.
Driver of route 12, we have a car stopped across the tracks near Ellis Street with its hazard lights on. The driver is out of the car. Proceed with care and give me an update when you see it.
Slow to a speed you can stop from, report what you can see as it comes into view, and wait for instructions
You stop well short, tell control the car is empty and the driver is on the footpath, and they hold the following trams. Seeing the scene first and reporting plainly is what lets control make good decisions.
Keep your normal speed, since the driver is out of the car and will probably have moved it by the time you get there
Nobody moves the car in time. You brake as hard as the tram can, which is not as hard as a car, and passengers are thrown forward. You are lucky nothing worse happens.
Stop where you are and wait for control to tell you the way is clear
No one is at risk, but you are blocking the stop behind you and the delay spreads. Control also has no picture of the scene, which they needed from you.
I am stuck on a late bus and I will be at the terminus about twenty minutes behind. You have been on since five. Control says they can live with it if you do one more loop. Can you?
Agree to the loop, since you are only a bit tired and the riders on the late service still need you
Halfway round you realise you have missed a stop announcement and nearly missed a signal. Tiredness is quiet, and the driver is often the last to notice it.
Tell control plainly that you are tired and ask them to arrange a replacement driver
Control is not thrilled, but they find a spare driver. Telling them is exactly what a safe service relies on.
Agree to the loop only if control shortens it, and promise to say if it is too much
Control shortens the loop and you finish it safely, but you were still guessing at your own tiredness. It would have been cleaner to hand over earlier.
How it went
Your shift ended with a rider at his appointment, a car cleared from the tracks and a handover done honestly. Drivers make small calls all day that nobody notices when they go right. Would you like a job where being steady and straight with people counts for more than being fast?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The grain train and the knock in the dark
A fictional case set in a tram depot and the city routes that run out from it, in a fictional river city.
The situation
Wei Jie was driving a freight train loaded with grain through the early hours when the locomotive began to give a faint, regular knock on one stretch of track. The timetable was tight because a ship was waiting at the port, and the sound was easy to put down to a worn wheel or a rough patch. Nobody else was on the line for hours, so no one would have known if he had kept quiet and carried on to the next stop.
What they did
Wei Jie slowed to a speed he was comfortable with and radioed the control centre with the exact location, the sound and how long it had lasted. Control asked him to stop at the next safe point and hold while a track inspector came out. He walked along the locomotive and the first few wagons with a torch, wrote down what he saw, and waited, knowing the delay would ripple through the freight timetable.
How it turned out
The inspector found a small fault at a rail joint and the section was repaired before the next trains came through. The ship was loaded a few hours late and the freight manager grumbled about the schedule. Wei Jie's report was used later when the joint was marked for replacement.
What would you do?
- Would you feel comfortable slowing down when no one else could see the problem?
- How do you think a driver weighs a waiting ship against a small noise in the dark?
- What would you want a control centre to say to you in that moment?