http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/PubAffairs/EmergencyOrder26.pdf
All good to me, no more annoying "Call me on the Phone" heard on the radio.
All good to me, no more annoying "Call me on the Phone" heard on the radio.
FRA Puts the Smackdown on idiot cell phones
- Thread starter KC9JUM
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All it does is make the current rules a federal crime... Its not going to actually change everything except absolve the FRA from any liability if it happens again.
It was not a rule on every line. Some shortlines had been using the things for dispatching and warrants.. Other roads they were legal for RR related business.. Now. They will -have- to use the Radio.
omrail
Member
it is not going to change a thing. as long as it is for railway business it is going to be fine
Read that one again.
It's very specific...... Railroad provided and personal....BOTH.....
You will find MUCH MUCH less Cell Phone use.
It's very specific...... Railroad provided and personal....BOTH.....
You will find MUCH MUCH less Cell Phone use.
YOU read it again... Specifically page number 26
I won't deny that someone using SMS/text messaging, watching a DVD, or doing other such things is not paying full attention to the job, but I've always been astounded that people (agencies and governments, mainly) make a distinction between talking on a cell phone and using a mobile radio or other similar conduct. If an engineer answering a phone long enough to say "Hi, let me call you back in a while" is so dangerous, why isn't picking up the mic of a railroad radio to tell the dispatcher something?
The same argument gets used in public safety circles and in general civilian use while operating a motor vehicle. The cop, firefighter, or medic looking at his MDT is OK, but using a phone - via handset, headset, or hands-free - is not? What about the guy listening intently to the political discussion on the talk radio channel on his car stereo? He's certainly distracted. Talking to a passenger has to be just as distracting as talking on a cell phone, since the only change is the medium (air vs RF) in which the conversation is transported.
Like I said at the top, I wholeheartedly agree that you shouldn't be sending text messages or watching movies while you're driving a train or supposed to be monitoring any type of important controls, but the whole thing about banning cell phones outright has never sat well with me.
The same argument gets used in public safety circles and in general civilian use while operating a motor vehicle. The cop, firefighter, or medic looking at his MDT is OK, but using a phone - via handset, headset, or hands-free - is not? What about the guy listening intently to the political discussion on the talk radio channel on his car stereo? He's certainly distracted. Talking to a passenger has to be just as distracting as talking on a cell phone, since the only change is the medium (air vs RF) in which the conversation is transported.
Like I said at the top, I wholeheartedly agree that you shouldn't be sending text messages or watching movies while you're driving a train or supposed to be monitoring any type of important controls, but the whole thing about banning cell phones outright has never sat well with me.
I guess u need to reread it KC9JUM, It's very specific like u say but not the way your saying.
For the most part they still are legal for RR business. Read page 25 part C and 2, its only on a moving tain or when your on the ground switching or you ride on rolling equipment, or getting an air test
It still wont change anything, we will still get warrents on the phone when we want too, and talk with the dickscracher, may not do it on a moving train much.
The good part of this order is it prohibits managers from calling you on a moving train as a test.
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omrail
Member
will doing what KC9JUM told me to do I found what I said before nothing will change. the conductor is the one that is talking on the phone when the train is moving. that is part of the job, to get the warrents and yarding info and so on not the engineers job..
IF it is any of -your- Business....I am a Radio Installer with a bias against cell phones... the unreliable and dangerous things have made my lively hood much harder.
I work for a railroad just like some of the other posters on this thread. Nothing is going to change as far as cell phone usage goes. My habits haven't not changed. In fact, we often use our phones to talk with dispatchers, clerks, trainmasters, other trains, management, and help desks. While you say cell phones are unreliable, so are two-way radios where I work. The railroad even issues cell phones to some trains/terminals.
Tim K.
Well I will agree with you there...
BUT
Cell phones have embedded themselves into our society and workforce. And that doesnt change the language of the emergency order.
Some things in railroading would be better to be kept private. Sometimes the radio is just too busy.
Thats right, hell half the time the first thing the dispatcher will say when they get on the radio is..Call me. They get real bent out of shape when u wont or tell them u dont have your cell phone.
I will still have my phone with me and use it when i fill the need, still have my mp3 player going on them long midnight runs, might even watch a movie or two when were stoped.
I have lost count how many times I have copied a warrant, then to have the dispatcher call me on my phone. Or call me to give him a heads up when to call a crew. Lots of uses for a cell phone. I carry a sirius radio, 7" LCD HDTV, and my cell phone at work. Oh, any my work HT is programmed with public safety frequencies too.
Not being a rail worker but as a radio tech and user at a large factory let me say this. Sometimes having others overhear radio traffic can be very helpful, especially in our maintenance department.
Someone gets dispatched to a job and someone else comes on with something like hey Joe, that machine was doing the same thing last week we restarted the computer and it went away. I realise the railroad uses strict controls on the movement of trains and the protection of trackworkers but wouldn't there be some benifit to having everyone within earshot knowing what is going on or what movement was taking place?
Someone gets dispatched to a job and someone else comes on with something like hey Joe, that machine was doing the same thing last week we restarted the computer and it went away. I realise the railroad uses strict controls on the movement of trains and the protection of trackworkers but wouldn't there be some benifit to having everyone within earshot knowing what is going on or what movement was taking place?
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