The Ubiquitous " Train Guard " !

From the 1880's to the 1960's the streets of Sydney reverberated to the sound of its tram system and that familiar call of the person collecting the money.  "  Fares Please "  was the call from the " Conductor "  as he moved through the tram and each tram was a two person operation - driver and fare collector.

The Opal card has replaced cash money on all forms of public transport.  Passengers simply tap on when they start their journey and tap off when it ends and the computer system calculates the distance travelled and extracts the fare from the deposit required for each Opal card.   Trams are returning to Sydney and this modern version will require only a driver.  The role of " Conductor " has been made redundant.

We are in the process of spending $ 2.3 billion on state of the art new trains and these are being built in South Korea and their configuration is such that they can be operated by just a driver.   They are expected to start operating here by mid 2020.   This raises the question on whether they will be manned by a two man crew, comprising a driver and a " Guard ".

That Guard position harks back to the steam age.  He alighted at each station stop and viewed the passengers movement on and off the train, and when he considered it safe for the train to resume its journey he signalled the driver with a flag.   Those flag waving days are long over and today the job of Guard is heading for a fight with the rail unions.

Dispensing with a Guard and running trains in a driver only role will save an enormous amount of money and this is now common in  a lot of overseas countries.   The safety aspect is now covered by the use of cameras which allow the driver to clearly see what is happening on platforms and within the body of the train itself.   The driver is in constant radio contact with supervisors who can summons help in the event of an emergency.

A Guard is not expected to deal with unruly passengers.  Policer and security people regularly patrol the trains and the driver can summon police to attend at a station if needed.   The role of a guard is not entirely clear and helping with prams and elderly passengers seems to be the main necessity.  Such a role is reassuring to passengers, but does it still have a place in a modern rail system  ?

Theoretically, assisting passengers with children, luggage or the elderly should be the role of station staff, but many stations are unattended these days, particularly on the rural network.  The financial advantage of operating the rail network with drivers only is overwhelming.  It is probably the only way that fare reductions are possible.

At this stage the government is placating unions by insisting the guard position will be retained.  Just what function that will serve remains to be negotiated.