Factors Affecting Conductors' Judgments on Platform Safety before Trains Depart from Stations

Abstract

Train conductors must issue a departure signal to drivers after verifying platform safety before the trains can depart the stations. The judgments on departure signals differ for different conductors based on the differences in platform conditions. An experiment was conducted with 18 experienced and 18 young conductors to examine the factors affecting conductors' judgments. The results indicated that conductors' judgments were strongly affected by passengers' positions and postures and less by the direction the passengers were facing. Most importantly, 9 experienced and 1 young conductor tended to give the departure signals when passengers were standing or half-standing between the platform braille blocks and trains. Developing new measures to prevent departure signals when passengers are standing between the platform braille blocks and trains is expected to prevent platform accidents involving humans.