• Metro emergency procedures

    From Sylvia Else@sylvia@email.invalid to aus.rail,aus.legal on Sun Aug 4 11:36:11 2019
    From Newsgroup: aus.rail

    I made a request for information under the GIPA Act. (NSW equivalent of Freedom of Information). Amongst other things I asked for details of the training given to control centre operators regarding the emergency door release system.

    In the response, it says,

    "Information has been identified as falling within the scope of your application. However, Northwest Project Delivery has advised that the
    control centre operators are trained to respond to the activation of an emergency door release, but Sydney Metro does not hold any records
    containing the training details."

    What kind of training are they being given then? How can there be any consistency if there are no records? How can an operator refresh their
    memory as to the correct procedure?

    Of course, they may just be lying. They seem to be using every means at
    their disposal to avoid providing useful information. For example, the emergency door release does not operate while the train is moving, so I
    asked how the train speed is determined by the system.

    In the response it says

    "The train speed is not a relevant determination as emergency door
    release cannot occur until the train is stationary."

    Sylvia.

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  • From Dechucka@Dechucka1@hotmail.com to aus.rail,aus.legal on Sun Aug 4 15:50:19 2019
    From Newsgroup: aus.rail

    On 4/08/2019 11:36 am, Sylvia Else wrote:
    I made a request for information under the GIPA Act. (NSW equivalent of Freedom of Information). Amongst other things I asked for details of the training given to control centre operators regarding the emergency door release system.

    Why?

    snip
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  • From Sylvia Else@sylvia@email.invalid to aus.rail,aus.legal on Sun Aug 4 16:08:54 2019
    From Newsgroup: aus.rail

    On 4/08/2019 3:50 pm, Dechucka wrote:
    On 4/08/2019 11:36 am, Sylvia Else wrote:
    I made a request for information under the GIPA Act. (NSW equivalent
    of Freedom of Information). Amongst other things I asked for details
    of the training given to control centre operators regarding the
    emergency door release system.

    Why?

    snip

    When you pull the emergency door release handle it does not, contrary to
    what you'd expect, immediately release the doors. Rather, there is a
    built in delay, during which time it sends a signal to the control
    centre. The operator there can override the door release, so that the
    doors will not open, even after the delay time has expired.

    Inquiries into past accidents have repeatedly shown that train operators
    do not handle real emergencies at all well. My concern is that the Metro centre operators will always respond to a emergency door release signal
    by overriding it, and only after that seeking to determine whether there
    is an emergency. That is not what they're meant to do, which is to use
    the delay time to decide whether to apply the override.

    If their immediate response is to override the release, then in a real emergency such as a fire, that extends the time before the passengers
    can escape. It isn't even clear that the operators can release the doors themselves once they have applied the override. The passengers may have
    to try to operate the emergency release again, and wait for the delay
    time to expire again.

    The emergency release mechanism has been made very complicated, all in
    the name of preventing passengers from operating it and getting out of
    the train when they don't need to. There's every chance that in a real emergency with a damaged train, it won't operate in the way it should,
    and passengers will die as a result.

    NSW seems to be the only place where this approach is taken.

    Sylvia.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Dechucka@Dechucka1@hotmail.com to aus.rail,aus.legal on Sun Aug 4 18:52:06 2019
    From Newsgroup: aus.rail

    On 4/08/2019 4:08 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
    On 4/08/2019 3:50 pm, Dechucka wrote:
    On 4/08/2019 11:36 am, Sylvia Else wrote:
    I made a request for information under the GIPA Act. (NSW equivalent
    of Freedom of Information). Amongst other things I asked for details
    of the training given to control centre operators regarding the
    emergency door release system.

    Why?

    snip

    When you pull the emergency door release handle it does not, contrary to what you'd expect, immediately release the doors. Rather, there is a
    built in delay, during which time it sends a signal to the control
    centre. The operator there can override the door release, so that the
    doors will not open, even after the delay time has expired.

    Inquiries into past accidents have repeatedly shown that train operators
    do not handle real emergencies at all well. My concern is that the Metro centre operators will always respond to a emergency door release signal
    by overriding it, and only after that seeking to determine whether there
    is an emergency. That is not what they're meant to do, which is to use
    the delay time to decide whether to apply the override.

    If their immediate response is to override the release, then in a real emergency such as a fire, that extends the time before the passengers
    can escape. It isn't even clear that the operators can release the doors themselves once they have applied the override. The passengers may have
    to try to operate the emergency release again, and wait for the delay
    time to expire again.

    The emergency release mechanism has been made very complicated, all in
    the name of preventing passengers from operating it and getting out of
    the train when they don't need to. There's every chance that in a real emergency with a damaged train, it won't operate in the way it should,
    and passengers will die as a result.

    NSW seems to be the only place where this approach is taken.

    Sylvia.

    I now realize why people don't answer your e-mails
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Sylvia Else@sylvia@email.invalid to aus.rail,aus.legal on Sun Aug 4 19:57:55 2019
    From Newsgroup: aus.rail

    On 4/08/2019 6:52 pm, Dechucka wrote:
    On 4/08/2019 4:08 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
    On 4/08/2019 3:50 pm, Dechucka wrote:
    On 4/08/2019 11:36 am, Sylvia Else wrote:
    I made a request for information under the GIPA Act. (NSW equivalent
    of Freedom of Information). Amongst other things I asked for details
    of the training given to control centre operators regarding the
    emergency door release system.

    Why?

    snip

    When you pull the emergency door release handle it does not, contrary
    to what you'd expect, immediately release the doors. Rather, there is
    a built in delay, during which time it sends a signal to the control
    centre. The operator there can override the door release, so that the
    doors will not open, even after the delay time has expired.

    Inquiries into past accidents have repeatedly shown that train
    operators do not handle real emergencies at all well. My concern is
    that the Metro centre operators will always respond to a emergency
    door release signal by overriding it, and only after that seeking to
    determine whether there is an emergency. That is not what they're
    meant to do, which is to use the delay time to decide whether to apply
    the override.

    If their immediate response is to override the release, then in a real
    emergency such as a fire, that extends the time before the passengers
    can escape. It isn't even clear that the operators can release the
    doors themselves once they have applied the override. The passengers
    may have to try to operate the emergency release again, and wait for
    the delay time to expire again.

    The emergency release mechanism has been made very complicated, all in
    the name of preventing passengers from operating it and getting out of
    the train when they don't need to. There's every chance that in a real
    emergency with a damaged train, it won't operate in the way it should,
    and passengers will die as a result.

    NSW seems to be the only place where this approach is taken.

    Sylvia.

    I now realize why people don't answer your e-mails

    And why is that?

    Sylvia.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2