Indra Ghosh Sir Reply:
It’s not desirable to do away with brake power test (sometime called brake feel test also) after every crew change. It has serious safety implications. Improvement in braking technology has nothing to do with it. It is more for check against human failures.
As ED/Safety, I had come across a case where after attaching/detaching of slip coaches, the Train Pipe & Brake Pipe of the end coaches of two groups got interchanged and connected. As a result, the train started with partial brake, with the rear group of coaches completely unbraked. Driver conducted the brake feel test at around 20 kmph., but since brakes were working partially, he couldn’t make out the difference.
He realised the problem only at high speed when he couldn’t reduce the speed of the train as he expected. Fortunately, speed reduction was required for a temporary speed restriction, so there wasn’t too much of damage; else it could have resulted in a collision.
It was only after this incident that train pipes and brake pipes started being coloured differently, to prevent such mishaps in future.
Another incident occurred on a freight train which had stopped at a road side station for crossing. During that duration some urchins playing nearby, disconnected the brake pipe; as a result of which the train started with partial brake power.
Instead of trying to save few minutes of running time by such knee jerk reactions, it would pay bigger dividends and save much more time, if we ensured that loaded freight trains ran at their maximum permissible speeds, which they seldom do.
One only needs to footplate by two loaded freight trains, one running at whatever speed the driver decides and the other one running at maximum permissible speed (under your urging) to realise the difference.
Another area where substantial saving in running time can be achieved is by insisting on drivers to use only rheostatic/dynamic brakes instead of air brake. For merely reducing speeds, rheostatic/dynamic brakes should invariably be used. Air brakes have to be used for bringing the train to a complete stop.
