Union Tactics Stop Trains !

The New South Wales government has been spending big money to replace the ageing fleet of trains that serve to link country with the city.  Fifty five new trains containing five hundred and fifty new carriages are on order from South Korea and the expenditure will run to two billion dollars.

The first shots in a coming war have been fired by the militant train union with a claim the trains are unsafe and that their members will refuse to operate them unless their safety concerns are met.  The first of these new trains has arrived in Sydney for testing and it is obvious to most observers that this is all about job protection.

What has raised union ire is the sophisticated use of  cameras to monitor passenger movement on and off at stations and to observe passenger safety and security during the rail journey.  Where this identical train design is used overseas it is staffed by just a driver and the union suspects that the government is planning a similar operation long term here.

The government has made it plain that each train will have a driver - and a guard.  The union has manufactured a complaint over automatic train door openings as a safety issue.  They will only open when the train has come to a complete stop while in the ageing fleet they can be opened and shut by the guard while the train is moving.

The union also complains that passengers can slip between the train and the station while boarding or leaving the train.  This is a risk present with the existing trains and will only be eliminated when stations are upgraded to achieve a closer tolerance.  The camera system allows the driver an unimpeded view of the entire length of the train while it is in a station.

Clearly, the rail unions are using safety to try and force a long term guarantee from the government that the guard position will not be eliminated later.  This is running against the pattern now in place on the world train system and raises questions on the duty of a guard.

Back in the steam age the guard rode in the caboose at the back of the train and carried red  and green flags.  He supervised passengers getting on and off at stations and signalled the driver when the train could safely resume its journey.  He could give assistance to aged passengers and help women with children and prams, but today that task is met by station staff.

In some overseas rail systems the guard has been renamed the " conductor " and the job entails moving through the train and checking that passengers have a valid ticket, but that usually applies to overnight trains with sleeping accommodation.

It seems likely that there will be delays in getting these new trains running on time because of this contrived safety problem.  It is unreasonable to expect the government to give an unlimited guarantee on future staffing and that issue needs to be resolved when - and if - it ever eventuates.

The rail unions are putting job safety well ahead of the needs of the travelling public  !