Train conductor missing - Southeastern

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Thanks everyone for your input

 

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There is currently no procedure at Otford or Swanley or Sevenoaks for the Guard letting the Driver know he is on the train as it is assumed that control will inform the Driver if there is an issue but of course this does not always happen. This is why whenever this happens it is not noticed until Kemsing or Farningham Road or Hildenborough even though according to the rules the train should not have left the previous station without a Guard onboard as the previous station is the DOO limit.

Yes indeed. But if the guard somehow missed their own train at Victoria you’d expect them to make that known immediately, or that it would be noticed, so it should be very rare for a guardless mainline train to reach the guard dispatch section without anyone realising. Detraining at an earlier point eg Bromley South with platform staff, and the ability to route other trains around, would be preferable.

I don’t expect to hear the answer on here as to what went wrong in this case, but it’s fascinating to discuss, and for me brings back interesting memories of the operational minutiae of that part of the network. I still travel on it regularly, albeit thankfully only as a passenger these days!

Thanks everyone for your input

Hopefully you’re now home safely, and all’s well that ends well!

 

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Hopefully you’re now home safely, and all’s well that ends well!

I am thank you.

But yes, clearly an interesting topic as you say. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor driver.... I would have loved to be a fly on the wall re his initial conversation to control but guess we'll never know...