The doors on the rail load wagons are operated by pneumatics. If the doors needed to be opened or closed, the loco had to be coupled up to provide the air source. It often took over 20 minutes to couple the train and a further 20 minutes to build the air to the correct pressure.
To couple and uncouple a train involves the manual handling of the chain links whilst walking up and down the sidings with the risk of slips, trips and falls.
A solid air pipe has been installed the full length of the sidings with multi stab-in points to make it a safer working environment for the operators working on the rails. The operator can now walk along with a small pipe and couple the individual wagon to the air and operate the doors safely. The benefits of this change are:
- There is no need to venture on to the sidings across tracks;
- The doors can be secured quickly; and
- There is reduced spillage on the track which was a cause of potential derailments and a tripping hazard. |