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Railroad traffic controller (2)
Today’s subject: Malfunctions. Sometimes the system reports a section of the track is occupied, although there is no train at all. This can be caused by many things: A broken wire, a short-circuit between the rails or sticking relay contacts in the security system.
The only way to find out what the real situation is, is to send out an expert to have a look at the tracks. Engine drivers are expert in checking the condition of the tracks. So usually the best solution is to ask an engine driver who has to pass the problem section anyway to have a close look at it.
However this is easier said than done: It is not possible to plan a route for a train trough an occupied section; that wouldn’t be safe of course! Yet it is possible to send a train to an occupied section. It is daily routine to do that in case two trains have to be joined together into one. You can create a “Drive On Sight”-route for this. The engine driver will not see a green signal light but a yellow flashing light instead. Then he knows he will have to drive carefully, so that he can pull on the breaks on time in case there is something in the way.
Today I suddenly noticed the section near point #1201 was occupied, although there should not be any train there. There was also a train waiting in front of signal #1206, that could not proceed now. I would have to call the engine driver and ask him to check the state of the track. But could I create a “Drive On Sight”-route in this case? That didn’t seem like a good idea. As long as a section is occupied, the whole route will stay reserved in the system. That would make it impossible to create any route across any of the points on the East side of Boxtel station. I had seen how unpleasant that is yesterday already…
So I could not plan a route. But if no route is available, the signal post will stay red! The engine driver will not want to pass a red signal. For this situation there is a special “Stop Showing Signal”-procedure. All the points are put in the right position and all crossing tracks are blocked, but no real route is planned in the system. Fortunately the software can help you to do this, because it is very easy to forget blocking one of the conflicting tracks and cause an accident.
The picture to the right is a simplified version of the real situation: The little white lines show the blocked tracks, but not all necessary blockings are shown in the picture.
When everything has been prepared correctly, a red form has to be filled out and this has to be read to the engine driver. And he has to repeat everything you say. After that he is allowed to pass the red signal post.
Time to pick up the phone and call the engine driver:
“Master, I would like to ask you to check the state of the track behind signal post 1206 up to point 1199B for me.”
“
“No you don’t, I will give you a “Stop Showing Signal”-instruction:
“The engine driver on train 5218 must proceed beyond the red signal post #1206 and after passing the signal:
- Drive on sight;
- Drive cautiously on the points at a maximum speed of 10 km/h;
- Be prepared for malfunctioning road crossings.“
The engine driver repeated this message after me verbally…
“Success, Master!“
“Well done, Evelien“, called the instructor. 
One practical question remains: If I have to call an engine driver “Master“, how should I address his female colleagues? “Mistress“?
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