The " New Trains " Enigma ?

Next month, the first of a fleet of fifty-five new inter-city trains will arrive at Port Kembla from South Korea and begin testing with services expected to begin early in the new year.  This upgrade is costing  $ 1.6 billion and there is the expectation that these new air conditioned carriages will deliver an upgrade in reliability and comfort.

Already, there are rumblings coming from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union who accuse the government of wanting to delete the post of guard from the new trains.  Where this form of transport is used overseas the trains run on a driver only mode and the union suspects that the government will be looking at a similar disposition to lower running costs.

That does raise the question of what purpose a guard serves on a train ?   In the days of the old steam trains the guard travelled in the rear compartment and alighted at each stop holding a red flag.  It was his job to watch to see that passengers were safely aboard and the doors closed before he waved that flag for the driver to continue the journey.

In the city Transit rail system we have moved to driverless trains but this mode of transport is usually taking passengers to and from work and they travel unencumbered.   The inter-city services will serve families with children and often it will involve luggage.  It used to be the guards function to check that passengers had a valid train ticket but today the Opal system delivers ticketless travel.

There is the expectation that the guard will keep order on the train and counsel unruly passengers but the cabins will be under camera review by the driver who will have radio contact to call police to board the train if necessary.  The main function of the guard today seems to be to assist passengers to safely board the train when they have children and luggage and it can be argued that this is a task better managed by station staff, except many stations today are unmanned.

The Transport minister has made it clear that these new double-decker  trains will have both a driver and a guard who will have a dedicated and enclosed crew cabin.  This customer service guard will be visible and will travel through the train assisting passengers with boarding and alighting.  Perhaps in todays world that term " guard " is a misnomer.  In some other countries the term has been changed to " conductor " or " Service Manager ".

Despite this assurance the Rail, Tram and Bus Union is digging in its toes and threatening to raise the presence of a guard as a safety issue.  Guards in the rest of the train fleet are responsible for making announcements and responding to passengers at various help points and this would be performed by the driver in these new trains via electronic means.   The union would prevent passengers getting on trains if the safety issue was unresolved.

It looks like manning these new trains is fast developing into a turf battle.  The government is signalling that manning will be unchanged and the union is promising a fight if that situation changes. What the passengers want is a fast and reliable service.