Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Pre65
A brake pipe valve was left closed on a Caledonian Sleeper train which overshot the platform at Edinburgh Waverley, a preliminary rail accident investigation has found.
|
Wow.
The requirements below MUST be carried out
every time you drive a train. Even if you've driven the same train 10 times already that day, you still do these brake tests every trip.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Drivers' Rule Book - Section TW1 Preparation and movement of trains
4.1 Making sure brakes are working correctly
The automatic brake must normally be in use on every vehicle in a passenger, parcels or postal train. You must make sure that the brakes are working correctly before allowing a train to enter service.
4.2 Carrying out a brake continuity test on locomotive-hauled trains or HSTs
You must carry out a brake continuity test:
• when a locomotive is coupled to the train
• after a brake defect has been repaired
• after a train has been left unattended and the traction unit shut down (except where authorised in local instructions)
• when a vehicle is uncoupled from the train, unless it is uncoupled from the extreme rear
• when a vehicle is coupled to the train.
4.6 Carrying out a running brake test
You must test that the automatic brake is working properly by carrying out a running brake test.
When you carry out a running brake test, you must do so from a speed that is high enough for you to be sure that:
• the brake is operating effectively
• the speed of the train is being reduced.
Locomotive-hauled trains and HSTs
You must carry out the running brake test at the first opportunity after beginning the journey.
You must, if possible, also carry out a running brake test in good time before approaching:
• the first stopping place
• a crossing place on a single line
• a steep falling gradient
• a terminus or dead-end platform line.
|
Maybe I've led a sheltered life, but I've never met a driver who didn't perform a Running Brake Test within 5 minutes of starting out. Our Traction Inspectors would come down on us if we didn't. We're required to scrub off 10 mph with a quck dab of brake. You'd know straight away from this if there were a brake problem.
Staggered, BW
