Our respondent is an assistant engineer who worked from 2005 to 2010 on the routes Moscow - Tver, Moscow - Konakovo, Moscow - Zelenograd and the like. We asked him questions that seemed most interesting to us. You can leave your own in the comments.
- Were there any attacks on a person?
- This is a matter of probability: sooner or later this can happen with any team. The train has a long braking distance, and people can jump out unexpectedly on the way. Not every situation is manageable. I had hit a woman at night at a speed of 118 out of 120 possible kilometers per hour. At the same time, they saw her on the tracks, simultaneously whistled, applied emergency braking, then they shot down almost immediately, and after half a kilometer the train completely stopped. An examination established that she was drunk, but this did not make it any easier for us.
- What about animals? The path is not fenced: moose, bears, dogs, cows ...
- It happens quite regularly. In the suburbs there are a lot of moose. On the stage near Klin, one somehow ran out on the way, heard a whistle, and got scared. Emergency, but still the train goes faster than him, and he began to run away in a straight line along the way. So many animals do. As a result, at the last moment he nevertheless began to bounce to the side, but the car hit him. When they walked back, there was nothing: either everything was in order with him, or he was injured to leave, or he left and died somewhere in the forest nearby.
If a personās life is always and unequivocally chosen in relation to a person, then in relation to animals, the choice often comes up āmoose against the scheduleā. If the driver uses the emergency to avoid hitting an animal, he will not be anything. If he knocks down without stopping, too, even slightly damaging the train. But if the train is significantly damaged or derailment is a problem. Therefore, despite the fact that the animal is unlikely to do something by train (due to the fact that it will be thrown to the side by a snowstorm), usually the drivers still give emergency braking on large animals. And through the small ones they often pass right through.
- How is the assistant driver different from the driver?
- The assistant does the auxiliary work, and the driver leads. When the driver needs additional hands, this task is performed by the assistant. For example, the driver does not go to the curved platform, and the assistant helps to monitor the landing and disembarkation of passengers (because you canāt see the last car when bending, but there are cameras everywhere). When driving, he is responsible for safety, for acceptable speed, speaks out loud about all the restrictions on the site. If something rattles on the train, it goes to listen to the mechanical part, and the driver remains in the cab. Tritely cleans the windshield if necessary. When examining a train, it helps the driver: depending on the schedule, it happens āI am on the left, you are on the rightā, āI am on the outside, you are on the insideā or āI am on the bottom, you are on the topā. During a turn-around flight (when the cab that was in the tail before that is activated) sits in the deactivated cab until the driver initializes a completely different one. He canāt do an abbreviated brake test - this is only the driver. If you need to get in the way and put signal firecrackers - most likely, the driver will also send an assistant. But with all this, the driver is responsible for all the actions of the assistant.
The driver and assistant make up the locomotive crew. At different times, a fireman also entered (he delivers coal on a steam locomotive, and an assistant drowns the stove) and a tail conductor in electric trains. But when I worked, there were already two people in the brigade.
- What does a working day look like?
- Working shift - maximum 12 hours, 190 hours per month. But the schedule is quite ātornā due to frequent replacements and unplanned events. For example, on Monday, a change from 6:20 to 17:20. Tuesday at 16:20 - the beginning, Wednesday morning at 10:00 - the end of the shift, but in the middle of four to five hours - in the rest room. On Thursday, enter at 7:20. Friday is a day off. On Saturday - on the night from 18:00. Sunday is the day, the end of the shift is at 18:00. Monday is a day. On Tuesday - on the night from 20:00 to 10 am Wednesday. Thursday is a day off. Friday is a day. And such a cycle continues. The only thing, sometimes not one day off, but two between triples of shifts.
If there are two shifts in a row with a small interval, then between them you need to relax in special lounges. For example, they are in Moscow, in Kryukov, in Klin, in Tver, in Konakov - in general, at large stations. They look like Soviet rooms where Soviet single beds are located. For 2005, they were without air conditioning. The toilet is shared. You need to register with the attendant, she gives the key. Next - be sure to sleep. If you donāt sleep, itās a violation. At the end of the rest, the attendant wakes up and removes the laundry.
Upon intercession, you need to undergo a physical examination. One of the main procedures that you canāt easily fit into is pressure measurement. Norms: 60 to the lower limit and 140 to the upper one. After such a short sleep, sometimes it was 59 to 100 exactly. In this case, you need to squat until you get 62-63 along the lower border. It was possible to ācorrectā the pressure down by lowering the hand when measuring with a tonometer. If suddenly the pressure went beyond such errors, then the doctors immediately removed from work, gave sick leave for five days.
After the driver and assistant undergo a physical examination, you need to write off schedule changes, get warnings about dangerous areas - two forms with the current situation.
Then take the train, activate the cabin (there is more about this process in this post ). Actually, work out the route. Take the train in the evening. The change happens like this: the train arrives in Moscow, the driver makes a shortened sample of the brake system, and the assistant goes to write off the electricity meters. There are special cases when a car can be handed over at the Leningrad station, there is a turn of 15 minutes. Then she leaves. Or you need to put the train in the depot for repair, and then there is no shift crew. In this case, the locomotive team should inspect the entire structure, writing all the comments for the week in the repair book. The process takes more than an hour, but it is working time.
To dine in the cabin, there was a Soviet stove. Glass jars with soup, pasta, meatballs were placed on it. All this was heated for at least 30 minutes: otherwise it did not warm up. And the cabin was very small. I went with a driver who had sciatica, he was constantly warming up, he did not have enough space. Now there are more cabins in modern trains, and microwaves are already standing. I didnāt have enough space to just sleep - sometimes it was necessary to stand in Konakovo for three nights without rest (three hours in the cabin). I laid a quilted jacket, clothes and lay down - this is better than sitting in a chair and waiting for departure.
- What is the difference between a station and a stop or station?
- The station is a buffer with passengers, which can be located near the station. It has no direct relation to the railway. The task of the station is to provide service to passengers, and then transfer them to the station or receive from the station.
The station is a large facility that is capable of receiving and sending trains. As a rule, there are dead ends, side tracks, turnouts. Not necessarily the station is suitable for pick-up and drop-off of passengers: for example, it can be a station for freight trains. There are several classes of stations. They have an even and odd neck. For example, at the Kryukovo station, the input traffic light is from Tver, the second from Moscow. Since the numbering of trains historically shows the vector of movement (even - in the direction of reading on the map), the necks are respectively indicated by the parity or oddness of incoming trains. Despite the rule of thumb, the exact purpose of the necks is indicated in the technical distribution act. If the train moves in different directions, then most likely it will obviously get a number (usually in the first direction from the starting station).
A stopping point is anything you can stop around and drop off passengers. In the simplest case, the stopping point looks like a concrete nightstand in a field. No freight trains are accepted at the stop.
There are also road posts and roadblocks - these are actually means of routing trains. The train can stop on them, but for passengers it does not play any role.
- Were there hookers?
- There were. Sometimes, we let them go, but sometimes we beat them. But they didnāt turn in the police. For example, he once returned to Klin in the rear cockpit. I saw the shadow of a man climbing on a train when the movement began. And this man kicks the end crane with his foot. Emergency braking. And he did not even understand that it was he who had discovered it. A few minutes later he was caught by the assistant engineer from the brigade of that train, a rather sharp guy from Abkhazia. Beat so that it became scary. Then he reported to the driver on internal communication: "You can go, he got his own."
Sometimes oncoming trains told us about hookers on the VHF radio station. When we are both in the cockpit, they are not visible. In such cases, the driver stops the train, and they run away almost immediately when they understand what is going on. There is a video about the hook on the Sapsan. I donāt know what a person must have in his head to do this.
- What happens when a person on a train feels bad?
- Passengers press the button, call us through the passenger-driver connection. If there are few people, then I immediately go to watch. If there is a lot, we call an ambulance to the nearest station. Sometimes they say: āThere is no ambulance at the next one, move to Khovrin, he will wait there.ā We are going through one or two. The first case was - the woman became ill. When I arrived, she was already feeling better. But it happened, when they called the doctors, we arrived at the station and stood, waiting. Because if a person is lying, I canāt move him: there are a number of conditions when it hurts. Without a medical education, the victim cannot be moved.
- What about the homeless?
- Homeless people and drunks often traveled with us. We left for the final destination, slept in Reshetnikov, then drove back. If they just slept in the cars, then I did not drive out: this is the task of protection. Every year they were driven harder and harder, by the end of their work they were almost gone.
If someone riots in a car, I say loudly: āPolice officers, go to car number four,ā and the buoy runs away at the nearest station. Or police officers go to him. But more often runs away, because the outfit was one for about 10 compositions.
- Have you ever met a semaphore?
- There was no electric rail system on the routes. We moved along traffic lights, and there was an alarm in the cab: first - ALSN, then - CLUBs. That is, in the cab, what the traffic light shows is duplicated. A signal is sent along one rail, the current from the rail circuit passes along the wheel pair (a short circuit occurs on the second rail, where there is a return to the transmitting device). Receiving coils are installed above the wheelset, which are further connected to the signal decoder. After filtering from interference, we get data about which signal is transmitted in front.
On stages, the system acts by default as follows: when the train is in the next section, red lights up at its beginning. When he goes one further, the yellow light. Then another plot - and green. Only one train can be on one block section. In rare cases, when two trains are āpackedā at once in one section, you cannot send a signal to the locomotive in front (the network closes the first wheel pair in front and the receiver closes on the first pair of locomotive), so there is also a receiving device behind the train. CLUBS (this is a new generation ALSN with different security features) are in the form of separate boxes even on trolleys.
Well, skipping to the red is not the biggest jamb. Sometimes you can drive, besiege and return. Then they will not even scold very much. The biggest jamb is to hold up the Peregrine Falcon. I know several cases when the drivers passed the prohibitory signal, quickly called on the cell phone to the station (so that the conversation would not be recorded) and asked to be āfixedā. Now there are microphones in the cockpit, focus may not work. Itās much worse when there was some kind of malfunction, but you didnāt figure it out. And the road broke down completely, and then could not leave and delayed direction.
- And you delayed?
- Yes, somehow the Nevsky Express was detained for malfunctions. We left - the CLUB did not let go: the auto-lock failed. And behind it is just Nevsky. They closed the oncoming path, completely liberated them, launched it along the wrong path. Somehow later we reached Klin, an hour and a half.
Another of the remembered faults was holding the brake, pressing the shoe to the pair. It was heating. Just spinning and block rubbing. Sparks went, we stopped for inspection, and there the whole truck was right red. And outside it was minus 30 Ā° C. It was unusual to watch. I turned off the tap - it began to cool. But then no one was seriously detained.
- What if the traffic light is faulty?
- When the site is bad - there is a follow-up by telephone. This is actually the manual mode of the train. I have never had. And this is almost never happening now. The following happens: when the auto-lock is recognized as defective, the dispatchers are given an order or a travel note (if the radio connection has stopped working) with a seal that says that the traffic on the stage is carried out by TSS. You follow this instruction.
If one traffic light is faulty - usually it's okay. You canāt move to red, yellow - already allowing, 60 kilometers per hour. Most fault situations do not usually interfere with operation. But I had an overlap when green to red overlapped. Then they gave an emergency. The attendant said: "There is nobody in front of you, this is a failure."
- OK, please tell me why you left?
- Because they proposed a graphic engineer in Russian Railways. And so the main problem that you know about in advance, but donāt know how hard it is, is the schedule. The second pitfall - we had an amazing attitude from the leadership. You can be forced to go to a meeting from the night shift without anything of value. I also had to attend technical classes from the night. All subbotniks from the night are incomprehensible. Permanent deprivation of bonuses for controversial situations. There was also a complaint: the platform was under repair at the station; I warned the passengers that the first six carriages did not land, but the doors all opened, we did not operate them separately. The entire salon heard the announcement, but one woman did not. She went out, went to the locomotive, began to swear. I wrote a complaint that I went out with a cigarette and put a mat on it. And everyone knows that I do not smoke. But in Russian Railways, the priority is to trust the passenger, and the complaint was parsed at the meeting, it became such an exemplary case. As a result, they did not get fired, but there were a lot of cases. Suspended for two months: sent on vacation and then on a business trip to the plant, and then returned to the line.
Our other posts about the railway: about the Megapolis train , what is interesting in the train driverās cabin , the Universiade transport features , the Aeroexpress depot , the trans-Siberian railway , the Grand Express , what are the trains , wagon power systems , how the passenger wagon is arranged , how the wagons are assembled , how they are evolved about Leningradsky station , about steam locomotives , about old cars . Great FAQ about long-distance trains and unobvious rules .