Germany may be missing basic elements of civilisation (Marmite for example), but it does seem to retain a sense of proportion. A week or two ago I was in Vaihingen, and while waiting for my tram I saw these gentlemen squeeze through a gap in the hedge, call the control box on a cell phone, set up the ladder, open the front of the signal and change the bulb. When the tram needed to pass, the driver rang the bell, they moved the ladder, and then carried on when it was clear.
I’m pretty sure that in the UK that would have required several more people, scaffolding, fences, flags and possibly a line possesion. Here, it takes about six minutes.
Mind you, changing lightbulbs is pretty simple really, what happens when something more complex happens, like when the overhead wires need a bit of attention?
Notice the family passing the truck at the end of the video: it never occurred to anyone to close the foot/bike path.
When the tram needed to pass in the other direction they didn’t even stop working.
No line possessions, replacement bus services or other palaver with associated inconvenience to passengers, just safe working and common sense.
Glad to see common sense has not completely died out, yet! W
Good grief no Marmite! Heathens!!
Now these guys know how to run a railroad!
I wonder if German TV is full of adverts encouraging people to sue anyone and everyone. UK TV is which I suspect has a lot to do with the H&S excesses.
Thanks for the comments… I don’t know what German TV looks like- we don’t have a TV. I do know that a lot of the rules about suing people are different though: one interesting one is that if as a driver you assist at the scene of an accident, you cannot be sued for damages even if you make a mistake, on the basis that to do otherwise would discourage people from helping accident victims.
It is a very commonsense country, and yes, they do know how to run railway lines.
A bit of Marmite would be good though…
[...] Notice, by the way that there is no fence between the road (where I was standing when I took these pictures) and the construction area. In fact the line is still in use by trains running to Tübingen and beyond so that 15kv AC overhead wiring is mostly live. Another example of Germany’s commensense approach to health and safety. [...]