Do train conductors have to push a button every minute for the engine to run?

Question

My husband heard that conductors have to push a button every minute to make sure they are awake and if they do not hit it, the train engine will shut off. Is this true?

Answer 1

no... on most new trains... the driver has to take his foot off the accelerator pedal to ensure that he is ok (not asleep, ill, heart attack, etc)... if he doesnt the locomotive will slow down and a signal sent to a control box...

Answer 2

Another great answer by HOGHEAD... Alerters are a far cry from the old dead man's petal... can't tell you how many brake shoes I have removed from the cabs over the years...lay that shoe on the petal and forget it..Alerters are a little harder to defeat , but I have seen some pretty good attempts.....

Answer 3

If the Engineer doesn't make any changes to the controls ie. throttle, brakes  in a certain amount of time there is a buzzer that sounds if someone doesn't respond to it by press a button  the train will go into emergency stop.

Answer 4

Its called the alerter, and no, conductors don't have anything to do with that, the engineer does.

If no movement is made to any controls in a certain period of time, an alerter will sound and the engineer has to hit a reset button.

If its not acknowledged, the brakes will go into a full service (not emergency) penalty application.

Answer 5

On the London Underground there is a device called 'the dead mans handle' which the driver (motorman) has to hold down all the time the train is in motion. If he/she lets go the electric power to the motors is automatically shut off and the train will come to a standstill

Answer 6

I believe that the UK system is a variation of the dead mans pedal, which must be released when the beeper sounds (it might be the other way round and the pedel pushed). The beeper will sound if the power/brake levers are not moved for 1 minute

There is also the AWS (Automatic Warning System) which also acts in a similar way. If a signal is Green then it will sound a short buzz or bell, but approaching a yellow, red or change of speed limit a continuous buzz will sound, if not cancelled within 7 seconds then the brakes will be applied. If canceled when approaching a red signal then the Automatic Train Protection (on some lines) or TPWS (a similar but more widespread system) will apply the brakes to halt the train if required

Answer 7

No. Locomotive engineers do.  It doesnt go off every minute but randomly, depending on activity such as throttle movements, brakes etc.  It does not shut the engine off but applies the brakes on the train.  It is a safety device in case the engineer is incapacitated in some way.

Answer 8

There is an alerter that senses movement by the engineer of certain controls on the control stand.  Blowing the whistle, moving the throttle, operating automatic or independent brake or "bailing off" the independent (that is another question).  Activities like ringing the bell do not reset the alerter.  There is also a manual reset if no change to the controls is made.

They accomplish their task by means of a flashing light as well as an audible "chirping" tone that grows in intensity until the device is reset or performs its primary function, which is, as described above, to open the PC (pneumatic control) valve which does result in a penalty application of the brakes.  Even though they do not go into emergency, going straight to full service braking and dropping power (the PC also returns the engine to idle) is a pretty good recipe for a derailment.

When working properly they are a slight inconvenience, but their safety value outweighs this.  The problem is when one of the damned things malfunction and goes off as often as every 15 seconds.  Try that for 12 hours.