I looked around in all of them but couldn't find an exact equivalent. What happens if the driver gets incapacitated in those? Just absolute mayhem? Or can they be remotely stopped by the dispatch?
The US have an Alerter, that can be switched on from the circuit breakers in the back of the cab, that trips the PCS and put brakes into emergency if you don't acknowledge it for a few seconds when it beeps. (and it takes a minute to recharge the PCS, fair warning) And the UK has the AWS that trips when the next signal is at a yellow or red, same acknowledge pressing or the brakes be put into emergency.
UK Trains also have an alerter that goes off every 30 or 60 seconds (could be both, can't remember off the top of my head), if you don't respond to it it will apply the brakes until you do.
In the UK there's Driver Vigilance Device and DSD. In most UK trains (ie in game) if you look where the Driver's feet would be you'll see a pedal or area of floor which is raised. Press the alerter key (Q or whatever on your controls) and this pedal will move IRL drivers have to operate this on demand or the train will apply the brakes and bring the train to a stop Back in the day the power handle used to have to be held down for the train to operate, this is simulated on the Bakerloo line stock, ie when you put the power handle in operation it depresses... If this was released then it would disengage the power and / or apply the brakes This is on top of systems such as AWS and TPWS which are used to protect signals or "areas of conflict", where trains may cross each other's paths. AWS requires the driver to react within a given time to a warning else the train will apply the brakes. TPWS requires trains to be going slow enough to stop at a light or the buffers, or slow enough to cross points at a certain distance from those points else again the train will put the brakes on
I'd imagine deadman switches are a pretty hot commodity in the US right now given the derailments we're seeing from drivers literally dropping dead at the controls because they couldn't get a day to see their doctor about chest pains. But hey, when a train ends up in your backyard, it was precision scheduled to arrive there
In the *right* fuse cabinet behind the driver's seat: The BR Class 66, doesn't have a (separate) Vigilance Device, ttbomk. If I am not mistaken, it's one of those oldish DSD that need to be acknowledged periodically (pretty much like the German Sifa).
DSD and DVD are two different things. Driver Safety Device is the deadman's switch effectively, if the driver isn't pushing down on the DSD pedal then the train will eventually go into the emergency brake setting. Driver Vigilance Device is the timer that goes off after a period of not touching the controls. Usually the pedal is also used for resetting this but some trains allow you to move the regular controls to reset it too.
Ctrl + Enter activates AWS (and TPWS in the Class 166 I think) Shift + Enter activates DSD and Vigilance Ctrl + Enter activates ACSES and ATC Shift + Enter activates Alerter Ctrl + Enter activates PZB and LZB Shift + Enter activates SiFa Ctrl + Shift + Enter activates all of them
That is true for more modern trains, yes (e.g. on the class 465 on SEHS, where both is actually working). You have DSD (Driver's safety device) and the driver's vigilance equipment, just as you explained (and described in section 8 of the GERT8000-TW5 Rule Book). On older locos (e.g. the class 52) you have DSD systems that need to be acknowledged periodically, regardless of controls. And I think the class 66 also has one of those (at least in the game).
Keep in mind that in the class 66, the fuse box is in the 'A' end, so if you spawn in the 'B' end you have to go to the other end to activate, unless you use the keyboard shortcut.
Pretty sure it was sarcasm about the no paid sick day leave that the US Railroad unions were arguing about with the Class 1 railroads.
I doubt it; besides PTC being installed on all Class I's today, alerters have been standard on US locos for almost 30 years. If an engineer had keeled over the train would have stopped (besides, all Class Is operate with a conductor (who has an emergency brake valve)- another bone of contention in the union negotiations)
Yea I mean as far as we know he was in the engine room and the train wasn’t in motion at the time… I think the original point was pretty much highlighting the importance of these devices in the US with how little the class 1’s value their workers lives here. Although that sort of problem isn’t limited to just the railroad industry in the US, a lot of industries here don’t care about their workers.
