Canadian Railroads > CBC Report on Fatigue

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/freight-train-drivers-report-falling-asleep-on-the-job-1.2781696

Great opening segment ... Reporter stands in the middle of a double-track railroad. And we wonder why amateur photogs stage sessions on railroad tracks?

I think 75 percent nodding off is exaggerated, in my own experience 100 percent have had a moment or two in la-la land. It is a startling revelation and wonder if Transport Canada will ever wake up to the fatigue issues. Doug

In a word, No. Nothing will be done. People will pound fists on podiums at choreographed press conferences stating in a loud voice "Something MUST be DONE!" but in the end, it costs too much money. Too much to keep a rigid schedule for trains, too much to train new employees and convert the entire railway to a scheduled operation for both people and trains (like call windows for crews.)Eminence had a very thorough and well-worded response (as is his usual) in the thread below about Absenteeism policies.--read that, you'll get a picture of why we have a fatigue issue, and why it's been "Studied" by everyone and anyone since the late 80's...but nothing ever get's "done" about it...It's a logistic and cost nightmare none of the carriers want and the government doesn't want to impose.
And in the end, even my fellow union members are part of the problem...trying like hell to "mileage out" so they can get the last few days or even a week off at the end of the month is part of the problem. Plus you just have some people like my regular conductor on my regular assigned freight pool. I have a regular train, I go to work on regular days at the same time. I know this schedule a week in advance. This is the optimum job to NOT be fatigued on, since I can(and do) plan my naps and sleep schedule accordingly. So, anyway, he still shows up to work telling me about all the things he got done around the house when *I* was napping for work during the mid-morning (it's a 3pm-3am run). And, of course, by about 2330 on the train he starts being a bobble-head doll. He slept peacefully for the next 3 hours, then woke up when we stopped at a signal and asked me what was going on. I had really reached wit's end with this clown...so I told him that if he couldn't show up rested to work a REGULAR job with a REGULAR start time, then he needed to seek medical help, because clearly some kind of apnea had taken ahold of him...He didn't speak to me the rest of the trip...which is what I was angling for by calling him out. I hope he gets the hint. I'm not an ass, really. Fatigue is no laughing matter. We don't do ourselves any favors when we railroaders complain to the government and carriers about the fatigue issue when we have people like this just show up to work with an engineer and expect to ride the sleepytime express...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/14 10:05 by DrLoco.

Wasn't EHH the guy who attempted to run scheduled freights on the Illinois Central? With crew swaps at the midpoint so people would be at home instead of an away terminal.

On BC Rail we had scheduled trains and crews, that all went out the window when CN took over, they just could not fathom how crew and train scheduling worked even though they bragged of being a "precision scheduled railroad". With the A-B-C crew schedules we had on the former BCR, I could determine my working days and days off for 5 or 6 months in advance, great for making appointments or family commitments. Also the train operations were quite regular and generally a crew was called within "the window" and we knew when we were going to work within an hour or two. BC Rail crew office was also amicable to the running trades "booking off" with reasonable notice.
Towards the end of my career, I still enjoyed operating trains and would often "bid" onto something different such as a work train, geometry train or passenger excursion, all done to break the monotony of regular freight service.
The monotomy of pool freight service may be part of the fatigue issue crews experience, the same old track, same old trains and the same bullcrap waiting for a call or the same BS after being called for work. Perhaps the crews need something else to keep them alert in the cab, what that is I do not know. Doug

Nothing new. The Canadians did the CanAlert study years ago.

One man crews and PTC are the Carriers solution. Only one
exhausted employee instead of two.

sphogger

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rail-companies-fight-new-rules-to-prevent-crew-fatigue-1.2785581

Creel tells all lol

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1311006-interview-with-cp-president-keith-creel.html