Safe, secure or punctual? A simulator study of train driver response to reports of explosives on a metro train

Abstract

Many transport organizations now regard regular employees as important contributors to their security strategies. For this reason, it is essential to understand the interaction between service and security tasks. There is empirical evidence, for example, that workers under pressure to be punctual make more errors in the performance of safety procedures. It is therefore useful to determine whether punctuality goals have a similar effect on the performance of security procedures. This article reports a study conducted on a metropolitan rail system driving simulator to test whether train drivers also 'take shortcuts' in the perfomance of security procedures when placed under pressure of punctuality. Four hypotheses were tested using performance measures of two groups of 10 participants. The results show that there is a conflict not only between service and security goals, but also between safety and security goals.

Potential Explosive Device on a Commuter Train: What Drives Train Drivers to Deviate from the Security Procedure?

“…If implemented properly security SOPs mitigate the probability of harm to passengers and assets from a malicious actor. Poorly implemented strategies on the other hand may result in limited risk reduction at best, or can even create new risks that did not exist before [11].…”

“…The MRS operated under a constant threat of terrorist attacks using IEDs, and on average train drivers responded to five reports of suspicious items every week. They were expected to follow a specific 20-step standard operating procedure (SOP) to assist the management of the item (usually its removal) through coordination with members of the Operations Control Centre (OCC) and the station team [11]. Discussion with other operators suggests this procedure is now widely adopted across MRSs in the region.…”

Investigation into Effects of System Design on Metro Drivers’ Safety-Related Performance: An Eye-Tracking Study

“…However, the results significant at 90% confidence level (p value of 0.1 and less) were also highlighted, assuming such results might become truly statistically significant in a larger sample. This assumption is based on previous studies by Aitchinson and Davies [33], Moore et al [34], Tripathi and Borrion [35].…”

“…Tripathi and Borrion [35] discovered that emphasising on-time performance affects metro drivers' safety and security related performance. It also means that other competing goals can have similar effects on metro drivers' performance.…”

Research of a Problem of Terrorist Attacks in the Metro (Subway, U-Bahn, Underground, MRT, Rapid Transit, Metrorail)

“…The public transportation system appears to have become a preferred target of terrorists because of the potential for disruption, destruction, and the possibility of escape of the perpetrator(s), due to the size, openness, accessibility, lack of passenger identification, and the number of people such transportation systems carry (Jenkins 2001). Terrorist attacks on the public transportation system are described in (Colliard 2015;Bruyelle et al 2014;Borrion et al 2014;Edwards et al 2016;Johnstone 2011;Lockey et al 2005;Fiumara 2015;Hunter and Lambert 2016;O'Neill et al 2013;Setola et al 2015;Jenkins 2004;Polunsky 2015Polunsky , 2017Wilson et al 2007;Tripathi and Borrion 2016;Starita and Scaparra 2017;Lievin et al 2013).…”