Opinion and Answer 23 edition 34: Working as a Conductor In North America & Europe

Good Sunday Afternoon everyone, It's time for another edition of Opinion & Answer. On today's edition, I wanted to shine a light on an interesting member of the railway and that is the railway conductor or known in commonwealth English, a railway guard. So why not join me on this edition, where I'll go over the role of the conductor/guard and share some interesting points of their job. So lets get into it, first off is the definition of the conductor. 

-Conductor Wolf 

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Definition of the Conductor/Guard: A conductor (North American English) or guard (Commonwealth English) is a train crew member responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve actual operation of the train/locomotive.

Now onto their duties 

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Duties of the Conductors in North America:

Typically you'll see the conductor doing the following:

• Ensuring that the train follows applicable safety rules and practices
• Making sure that the train stays on schedule starting from the stations
• Opening and closing power operated doors
• Selling and checking tickets, and other customer service duties
• Ensuring that any cars and cargo are picked up and dropped off properly
• Completing en-route paperwork
• Directing the train's movement while operating in reverse
• Coupling or uncoupling cars
• Assisting with the setting out or picking up of rolling stock

But on some railroads like New York City Subway, Toronto Transit Commission and Sydney Trains employ conductors to make announcements and open and close doors while standing in the middle of the train for the best view of the station platforms. Which also include the following duties for the subways/freight trains: 

• Jointly coordinate with the engineer and dispatcher the train's movement authority, and verifying this authority is not exceeded
• Communicate and coordinate with other parties—yardmasters, trainmasters, dispatchers, on board service personnel, etc.
• Be alert to wayside signals, switch position, and other conditions that affect safe train movement
• Mechanically inspect rolling stock
• Assist the engineer in testing the train's air brakes
• Signal the engineer when to start or stop moving
• Keep a log of the journey
• Check tickets and collect fares on passenger trains
• Keep records of consignment notes and waybills
• Direct, coordinate, and usually manually perform, shunting or switching

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In the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the person with ultimate responsibility for operation of a train is usually called the guard, a term that derives from stagecoach days.

As well as ticketing and customer care, guards must be trained in "emergency protection" duties, should an emergency arise, along with other operational roles. This involves using emergency kit such as detonators, track circuit clips and flags to prevent other trains colliding with, for example a derailed train. If in a crash the driver became incapacitated, the guard is the only person left who can protect the train. Other day-to-day duties include operating the public address system and train doors.

In the UK, guard duties include:

• Opening and closing of train doors
• Ticket checks on most train operating companies
• Keeping passengers informed of any short notice changes to the service and then keeping the driver informed of any changes
• Dealing with an emergency and being trained in Personal Track Safety so that the guard is able to safely evacuate all passengers from the train - including using equipment like paddles, short circuit bars, and track circuit operating clips
• Small repairs of the train, including changing a blown shoe fuse, for example
• Historically, to assist with braking on freight trains not fitted with continuous brakes, by applying the handbrake in the Brake van

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Here some interesting facts you may not know:

1. In Australia, there is today a combination of driver-only operated trains and trains with a guard depending largely on state-based railway legislation.
2. In New Zealand, inner-city commuter rail networks are staffed by a driver and a train manager (guard) as a minimum.
3. Hungarian train conductors are responsible for the departure of the trains. In each station they give the permission to move on by giving a ready signal to the train driver. During the day they use a disc (which is white and has a green border) to give the ready signal to the train driver.
4. Germany: A conductor (Zugführer or Zugchef in German) supervises the operational safety of a train and is responsible for its proper operation.
5. Ireland: Most Iarnród Éireann trains are driver-only operated. An on-board train host provides passengers with assistance, makes announcements, and performs minor maintenance. A minority of routes still have guards operating the doors, giving the ready-to-start signal with a green flag, and checking and selling tickets.
6. In Belgium and The Netherlands, train conductors have multiple tasks involving train safety and customer services. Belgian/Dutch train conductors are responsible for the departure of the train.
7. In general, conductors in Switzerland collect or punch tickets, fine people the first charge of 100 CHF for not having a valid fare, and make announcements on the public address system.

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That's all for this edition of Opinion & Answer for this  Sunday Afternoon. I do hope you enjoyed this edition of learning about the role of the conductor. Join us again soon fro another edition.   

-Conductor Wolf