Slow-speed SPADs at stop boards in yards and sidings are on the rise. Freightliner’s Jimmy Pettitt considers the causes.
You’ve had a long shift and you just want to stable up in the yard, sign off and get home.But then something happens. There’s been a breakdown. Suddenly, you’re ‘Thunderbird 2’. Suddenly, you need to go off depot, get to the stricken train and bring it on home again. So you shut down the one end, walk down the ballast and open up the other. You’re ready to go, ready to head up to the exit signal. You open up, the ‘66’ stirs into action and... you pass not one stop board, but two.
Stop boards are part of our signalling system and are positioned to ensure the safe movement of trains. So what you’ve had is a double SPAD. Over a number of years, the railway has introduced many initiatives and published multiple documents and learning aids to try to reduce the risk from SPADs out on the main line. And we all know that, while SPAD levels rise and fall for many reasons, all that effort has largely paid off.
Over the last few months, though, the National Freight Safety Group (NFSG) has seen a rise in slow-speed SPADs involving stop boards in yards and sidings.
SPADs like these are particularly specific to freight operations, for – as drivers and signallers will know – most boards are not fitted with lineside safety equipment like AWS or TPWS. So there’s no safety net, if you like. Sometimes, boards might be placed on the opposite side of the track from conventional signalling arrangements too. But either way it will be in an environment where there’s always a lot going on – including shunters and fitters on site in orange to catch a driver’s eye, and vegetation to sometimes get in the way.
Working in yards and sidings is a key and frequent activity for freight drivers and demands – in addition to their technical knowledge – high levels of concentration. Communication and other non-technical skills like situational awareness are essential.
But surely we can do more to help the driver? NFSG Chair Dougie Hill, who used to work for Direct Rail Services, thinks so. He sees the importance of trying to improve the design of the infrastructure where we can. Take the Kingmoor stop board in the photo on the previous page. It’s at Kingmoor Yard in Carlisle and had been passed by several different operators.
Dougie’s team repositioned it and gave it an identification number to ease any miscommunication and to reinforce the idea that a stop board should be treated like any other signal. Other boards elsewhere have had direction arrows added to aid line identification.
Things like this can reduce confusion and encourage clear communications to take place between the relevant parties. It’s a reasonably simple, but very effective, safety improvement for yards and sidings operational activities.
When you’re driving where there are stop boards, remember what they stand for:S – SitT – TightO – ObtainP – PermissionB – BeO – ObservantA – AllR – RisksD – Decreased
