Dope smoking train driver gets his job back!

[The_Ghan]

Even if this is true, I don't think a responsible train driver should be living in an environment where this could happen.  Railways are dangerous places.  Irrespective of how the canabis got into his system people who have previously tested positive to a prohibited substance, or even being over the limit (alcohol) should be stood down until they improve their living and social environments.  Presuming innocence, I would at best be giving this fellow a whistle and platform flag.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[Eisenbahn]

Are Train Drivers routinely tested for drugs & alcohol?

I have often wondered if airline pilots are also tested before a flight. In their case they have a copilot & autopilot. However, Train drivers often work alone.

 

puzzled.....Eisenbahn

[westfalen]

In Brisbane drivers and guards are randomly drug tested by QR itself and Airtrain, you pick a coloured marble out of a bag, if you get a white one you are given a saliva test, if the result is positive you are stood down until more extensive tests are done. I personally don't know of anyone coming back positive. The blood alcohol level for all QR employees is zero with no exceptions or tolerance and as the penalty is dismissal it's extremely rare for anyone to flaunt the rules. The modern railway is a far cry from the old days when a six pack was almost official issue.

 

BTW the employee in the original story was a shunter, not a driver but still not a good occupation to engage in while under the influence.

[bikkuri bahn]

not a driver but still not a good occupation to engage in while under the influence.

 

Indeed.  The consequences of a mishap are shuddering to contemplate.

[marknewton]

Like Brisbane, in Sydney staff at every level are subject to random alcohol and drug tests, as mandated by the NSW Rail Safety Act. And like Brisbane, the permitted BAC is zero. As far as I'm aware the policy is pretty much uniform across all railway operators in Australia.

 

As Alvin says, it's not like the old days. Which is a bloody good thing in my view, there were too many pissed idiots on the job for comfort - or safety.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[westfalen]

There are many stories, maybe true, maybe not, from the 'old days' especially out west. The story of the guard driving the train on the homeward trip while the driver and fireman sleep it off back in the guards van is a common one. Then there was the time when two way radios came into use on the Mt Isa line and a freight train stopped at a town for the crew's meal break, when the loco crew got back on the engine they radioed the guard who told them they were ok to proceed, at each passing loop they stopped, the fireman exchanged the staff, got 'right away' from the guard and they headed off again. It was only after three or four sections when they got out of radio range that they realised the guard was still at the pub where they had lunch. There are a few stories from my personal experience but I'll keep them to myself in case some of the participants are still around.

 

BTW I'm one of the three QR employees who don't drink.

[Eisenbahn]

That was a funny story about the 2-way radios!

 

The other thing I found amusing as the notion that a freight train would have a scheduled stop for the crew to go and  have lunch at a hotel. Today we think of moving freight as  24/7 time critical movement through a point to point logistics pipeline. I wonder if the freight train also stopped for morning and afternoon tea? Cucumber sandwiches anyone?

 

But back to the original issue, it seems that the organisational culture at QR & NSWR are now in a better place where drugs and alcohol are now longer welcome in the workplace and this  generally has the support  and compliance with those concerned.

cheers....Eisenbahn

[westfalen]

 

The other thing I found amusing as the notion that a freight train would have a scheduled stop for the crew to go and  have lunch at a hotel. Today we think of moving freight as  24/7 time critical movement through a point to point logistics pipeline. I wonder if the freight train also stopped for morning and afternoon tea? Cucumber sandwiches anyone?

 

cheers....Eisenbahn

You can't eat while you're driving a train. A meal break is required after four hours of the shift has passed (the rules, like any in the railways, are more complicated than that but basically that how it works), with QR national these days I think they only get a minimum of twenty minutes for the break but it usually coincides with a stop to cross another train or some other reason for stopping so you could get longer than the minimum.

[KenS]

Actually, when I was railfanning 15 years ago, the local freights and even some long-haul trains here in the U.S. would stop for meal breaks (usually next to a McDonalds or some other track-side restaurant, as long as they wouldn't block grade crossings). Sometimes this was built into the schedule: if one freight had to wait for an opposing move on single-track to pass I've seen it done where the crew could get lunch while waiting.

 

I'll admit, the first time I saw a conductor walking back to his train carrying a McD's bag, I was quite surprised.

 

But I doubt if it's any different today.  A critical "hot" freight might swap crews to avoid delays like that I suppose, but otherwise you've got people on a train for 12 hours without food or eating when they should be watching the track.

 

Freight isn't really "time critical" in most cases either, although there are exceptions.  What's more important is predictability. As long as it always takes "X" hours from yard A to yard B, you can make schedules line up.  What would be problematic would be an unscheduled delay (which happens all too often anyway).

[Eisenbahn]

Hi Westfalen,

 

I understand and agree with what you say.

 

In those more leisurely times before globalisation, privatisation, and deregulation of freight, I pictured a cartoon like sequence of events of a nice Queensland sunny day, bringing the train to a halt, a quite stroll to the Hotel, the dining room, the white table  cloth, a sit down dinner, chat with  the waitress and later drinks  at the bar.  Today, I suppose the newly privatised  freight operator ,QR National, will have tighter workplace rules as would have its new freight competitor Pacific National.

 

When Pacific National first started operating here I saw one of their south bound freight trains pull into Yandina awaiting clearance to Nambour where  end of day movements of QR passenger EMUs was occuring. I was waiting for friends to turn up to go to a restaurant for an evening meal but when I saw the new Pacific National diesels pull in I went over to the railway fence to look at them. The driver got out of the cabin and walked over to talk to me. They were 'driver only'  long haul freight trains and I suppose he wanted someone to talk to after having been alone in the cabin all day. At the time I thought it would be a lonely life even though well paid.

 

Moving back to the original topic of drug and alcohol testing, I was going to say something earlier if anyone knew if drug/alcohol testing was done in the Netherlands. I have only been there once. In 2008 I went into Amsterdam on a Thalys and out on an ICE3 and stayed in a hotel near the Central Station for two days but was quite surprised(shocked) to see people openly smoking dope in cafes/pubs. The cobble stone streets & alleys around my hotel reeked of smoke. Because of its widespread public use and apparent acceptance by society I wondered if checks were done on train crews. I only mention this now after seeing some TV news  a couple of hours ago of a head on passenger train collision in Amsterdam.  We wont know the cause of the crash for some months and shouldnt speculate on a possible cause without evidence. One of the trains was one of those yellow VIRM double deckers..a particular favourite of mine even though I have never ridden on one.