COMPARISON BETWEEN DRIVING A ROAD VEHICLE AND TRAIN
Just as we expect from a road vehicle driver that he should drive his vehicle smoothly and safely, so is the expectation of public at large from the train driver. The similarity however, ends here, as there is a marked difference in the Zonal Railway Training Institute, Central Railway, Bhusawal functioning and appreciation involved in train working. Some of the major areas are as below: -
1. The road vehicle by virtue of its size is fully under the control of the driver who has to focus his driving skills over a short distance, and is fully in control of the vehicle with regard to speeding or slowing down, or even bring it to a sudden halt. On the other hand, with the trailing load running into thousands of tones along with the locomotive forms one unit, which the driver has to control. To compound the problem, the entire mass (or vehicle as it can be termed in comparison to the road unit) is elastic associated with linked dynamics.
2. While for the road driver it is not a pre-requisite to know the route on which he has to travel, the train driver is required to be fully familiar of not only the section on which the train is to be worked but even the sectional geographical condition.
3. Increasing of the speed of the vehicle involve change of gears which train driver increased or decreases the speed by use of the notches.
4. The road vehicle driver controls the speed of the vehicle according to the traffic and route Zonal Railway Training Institute, Central Railway, Bhusawal and can reduce/increase speed with gear change, and can simultaneously apply the brakes. On the other hand, the train driver has to control the speed of the entire trailing mass with the notches, and before applying the brakes; it is required to bring to zero notch position.
5. Road vehicle driver can turn his vehicle by the help of the steering wheel. On the other hand, train driver has no such flexibility for bypassing obstacles, impediments or abnormalities that is seen enroute.
6. While the braking distance of a road vehicle is small and easily controllable, that of a train is long and requires considerable skill to bring the train to a stop in case of an obstacle especially in emergency.
7. While there is no restriction of speed on road vehicle driver, for train the margin within which the same is to be run varies and requires continuous attention of the driver. Dropping the speed below the minimum stipulated means loss of time and exceeding the maximum speed spells danger.
8. Failure of a road vehicle enroute has no accident related implications. Generally, it can Zonal Railway Training Institute, Central Railway, Bhusawal be easily shifted on the sideline without blocking the traffic movement. On the other hand, stalling of a train has serious ramification, as not only it blocks the section, but immediate communication is required to be made to adjoining station, control and various other operational units for regulating the traffic and taking steps for moving the train with alternate arrangement.
9. While the application of brakes in a road vehicle is a simple procedure, it is highly complicated in train vehicle which involves technical know-how, skill and control due to elastic nature of the train mass.
10. Endanger of safety of human loss during the road vehicle failure/break down is negligible. On the other hand, failure timely steps of a stalled train carrying passengers can lead to a major accident, specially in case of a passenger train.
To sum it up, the road vehicle driver does not require any technical training as long as he has basic driving skills developed over a period of time, on the other hand for the train driver, every train is a new experience, requires more sound driving technique as the trailing load varies from Zonal Railway Training Institute, Central Railway, Bhusawal passenger train to freight train running into thousands of tones of trailing load.
