What about ticket buying on a train which is DOO▸ ?
Anyway, how is DOO legal? Surely you need a driver and a guard ( / train manager/conductor) to operate a train (except on Metros like LU)?
Tickets can come from machines or ticket offices on stations or on train from
RPI▸ 's / Travelling Ticket Inspectors.
D.O.O. is perfectly legal as long as certain criteria are met, basically track circuiting, secure radio systems (
CSR▸ ) where the signaller can effectively communicate with the passengers, mirrors or
CCTV▸ cameras on platforms, and various other conditions of which I cannot remember offhand. Most D.O.O. operations are generally fairly intensive metro type routes (the Bedwyn and Oxford services excepted on Great Western).
My understanding is that if the driver is aware of an emergency situation occuring, he whacks the red emergency button on the CSR radio and the signaller will automatically set all signals to danger automatically and make emergency broadcasts to any trains in the area. In addition I believe the radios allow the signaller to communicate with the passengers, so that information can provided, through the
PA▸ system.
Problems in incidents (assuming the driver is incapacitated) would arise if PA's are defective or when trains are split and whatnot, and there is no one passengers can take instructions from, and no one to physically help with evacuations. Basically they're on their own until the emergency services arrive. In the Paddington crash, there were two drivers riding in the back cab of the turbo, who helped co-ordinate evacuation out of the train, but they wouldn't normally be there. There are loads of lineside hazards, also overhead wires can theoretically still have residual current in them, even if switched off.
There are also a fair few occasions where various minor train defects occur, it is still possible to run a train in service with a guard. With D.O.O. unless there is another driver travelling onboard, the service would most likely be cancelled.
Additionally when fault finding, everything takes twice as long under D.O.O. as where as a guard can rectify or check for certain faults, and notify the driver, the driver would have to do it himself. If a circuit breaker tripped in the rear cab, the guard could reset it for example. With no guard, the driver would have to walk to the back to do it. Which can take a while on longish trains, especially if there are two or more units with no gangways!
D.O.O is not unsafe as such day to day, but in my opinion becomes far far less safe land less flexible than having a guard on board when things go wrong. It may benefit the shareholders of a company to introduce it, but the savings in the guards wages won't be used to lower fares, nor make the company (and hence the service) more efficient!
No doubt there may be some Turbo drivers on here who can explain the system and procedures far more accurately and in far more detail than I can!
