One-person operation
[11][12] One of the first examples of a public transport vehicle that was developed specifically for one-person operation is the Birney streetcar introduced in the United States in 1916.
[15] On the London Underground, the use of multiple units ended the need for a second crew member in the driving cab to assist with coupling at the terminal train station.
The Ghan, the Indian Pacific and The Overland all feature train managers who perform a similar role, as did the Great Southern.
In Denmark, the state owned railway company DSB started implementing one-person operation on the commuter rail S-train system in 1975.
[26] At the start of 2013 DSB also used one-person operated trains on the two small regional rail lines Svendborgbanen and Aarhus nærbane.
[27] As a result of several years of major annual deficits, DSB started implementing one-person operation on several rail lines on 29 June 2013.
[28][29] This led to reductions in staff, followed by widespread protest and some small illegal strikes by train drivers, who accused DSB of using rolling stock which was unsafe for one-person operation.
As of September 2015[update] DSB was only planning to use one-person operation at the local lines north and south of Aalborg – and far from all the way to Aarhus.
[32] On 7 June 2013, the Danish Ministry of Transport decided to implement one-person operation on the tendered Coastal Line, which led to the sacking of 50 guards.
This compelled the train operating company DSB Øresund to offer the sacked guards a "stay healthy bonus" of up to 5000 Danish kroner per month (about US$900 or GB£600).
In Hamburg the "Selbstabfertigung durch den Triebfahrzeugführer" SAT (self-dispatching by the train driver) was first introduced in 2000 and the last station was becoming unstaffed in 2006.
[51] In 2013 the company's health and safety representative – who (in Sweden) is a train driver appointed by a trade union[52] – deemed it to be an unsafe practice demanding it be stopped.
On the UK light railways and tramways, conductors have all but disappeared in an operational sense and now the term 'conductor' is commonly used for revenue and customer service staff.
[11] The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) challenged the move, claiming passenger safety would be compromised.
[54][56] London Overground Rail Operations stated in response that they had given "the RMT assurances on employing conductors in alternative customer service roles and offering a generous voluntary redundancy package to those who want it.
"[55] According to RMT, the proposals to implement driver-only operations are in response to the 12.5% reduction in Transport for London's funding announced in Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's Comprehensive Spending Review.
The report recommended that "the default position for all services on the GB rail network should be DOO (driver-only operation), with a second member of train-crew only being provided where there is a commercial, technical or other imperative", in order to reach the overall industry goal of a "30% unit cost reduction" by around 2018.
[60] In April 2016, drivers belonging to the ASLEF trade union refused to pick up passengers using DOO on the new Class 387 trains on the Gatwick Express route.
This is the system currently used for the 10-car Class 442 used on Gatwick Express, but the union claimed that extending this to 12-car trains put too much pressure on the driver and was unsafe.
DCO was first implemented in the 1980s, and currently more than 56% of ScotRail's trains are one-person operated, mainly electric services around the Glasgow and Strathclyde regions.
[58] The RMT Union called strike action in Summer 2016 when New Franchisee Abellio ScotRail announced plans to extend driver-only operation.
None of these pieces of work has identified any increased risk from dispatching a train without a guard being present – providing the correct procedures have been followed.
ORR has scrutinised this approach, and our inspectors are satisfied that with suitable equipment, proper procedures and competent staff in place, it is a safe method of working.
If there is no guard to put the onboard wheelchair ramp in place or otherwise assist the disabled person in boarding/debarking, access cannot be provided short of the driver leaving the cab.
According to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesperson Joe Pesaturo, the Carmen's Union "has never embraced" one-person operation.
[citation needed] In Chicago the city's main rapid transit system – the L – has been using one-person operation on the Yellow Line since its opening in 1964.
[citation needed] In the New York City area, the subway trains over 300 feet (91 m) and with over five cars are operated by a two-person crew of a motorman and a conductor.
Critics of the emergency order further pointed to a 1997 "Study of One-Person Train Operations", commissioned by Transport Canada which concluded that it is unlikely that two persons in the cab improves safety.
[10] In the wake of the Lac-Mégantic derailment in July 2013, Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo demanded that Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway start using two-person train crews in the US.
[89] In July 2013, the 55,000-member Canadian and American Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen stated that they had been opposed to one-person freight trains for safety reasons since the introduction of the idea approximately a decade ago.
