Some jobs are underpaid thats correct, that doesn't mean you aren't overpaid.
lets get into this in more detail. What exactly do you do when breaking gets bad because there's leaves on the track. I have ZERO knowledge past being on trains, but at a guess i would say, leaves on the track obvious BEFORE a situation happens, speed is reduced. You break its much less responsive than normal you assume a leave on a wheel, hmm, i don't know, you take the breaks off for a second and try again hoping the leave moves a little. If trains are set up so you can turn only some brakes on, IE one button lets you disable one carraige's breaks, you turn one set off at a time?
I honestly don't know but, frankly thats all part and parcel of learning to drive ANYTHING. Car driving you learn for the tests what the breaking distances are, how much they increase in wet weather "safe" speeds in differing weather etc. Most of that goes out the window after the test but simple practice allows you to judge things after practice. Most of the situation critical things that can happen, fires and what not, you have a safety procedure, its not quantum physics. Probably, call in fire, stop all traffic local, get people off train and to safety, big whoop.
At the end of the day you might be responsible for lots of passengers, but you can't accidentally swerve into oncoming traffic in normal situations, as a driver of anything else(bar trams) and planes that is NOT the case, any second of any minute of any day driving you could just turn and crash into traffic, its simply not the same situation.
Society needs to work as a whole, transport is pretty basic, and probably shouldn't be well paid, ok paid is fine, but frankly its not the most difficult job, really a lot of people can do it. Making train drivers highly paid increases ticket prices and that means everyone else, including that underpaid bus driver or fireman using the tube gets screwed. You make 40k a year in a relatively basic job to be honest, if everyone in a basic jobs in services public simply can't avoid using ALL got paid that much a lot of people simply wouldn't be able to afford to use public transport, taxes would be awful if firemen, police and everyone else got that much.
I believe it's because you have 'ZERO knowledge past being on trains' that makes you think we're overpaid.I will deal with the adhesion question though.A car,bus,lorry will all have a braking distance comprised of hazard perception time coupled with reaction time and then a mechanical stopping distance.Obviously a car will stop faster than a lorry/bus..I'm not sure on the distances involved.Normal stopping distance on a train at 90mph is close to a mile.
Ok,you state that leaves on the line will be something that is known about beforehand.Not true.More leaves fall off the trees when a strong wind blows.During autumn,the track conditions can change by the minute.As can the road conditions of course.When the leaves get crushed by the train wheels it forms a cellulose type compound and gets spread over a wide area
gradually.This gunk isn't dangerous by itself.It needs moisture to become slippery.Network rail manage and maintain the rails.The majority of cleaning gets done at night,to stop interruption of passenger services.this means that track conditions can be incredibly varied throughout the day.A train doesnt have the ability to 'turn some brakes on' individually.A train wheel's contact patch on the rail is no bigger than your thumbnail.To show how this affects adhesion,tip cooking oil over your kitchen floor (providing it's not carpeted
) ,now strap a teaspoon under each shoe.Try walking..hell try stopping.That's what it's like for a train wheel.
If we lose concentration during these periods,we go where the rail takes us.We can't,as you've already pointed out,swerve.We can't swerve onto a grass verge.We can't take any action other than putting the brake into emergency.We may as well sit in with the passengers.A lot of trains have smart sanding systems that help when the rail is contaminated slightly.Not when it's heavily contaminated.
And to top all this off,I'm liable for a manslaughter charge should a death occur as a result of my lack of concentration.If Michael Hodder hadn't died,I firmly believe he would have had to endure this.
Look at the history of rail accidents
Linky where the driver's actions have been brought into question.Look at the death toll over the last 11 years on the railways.Isn't it prudent to pay an attractive salary to attract the right applicants? How many idiotic bus drivers (yes,I was one of those too
) have you witnessed? Or lorry drivers drifting around motorway lanes? Do you want to risk this with train drivers? An attractive salary needs to be in place to get the best applicants.I'm not suggesting that all applicants are of a high standard,but the salary means serious,safe and professional people apply too and we can pick and choose who we want.
I'm aware that learning to drive anything is a task that can be learnt by anyone.Hell,I could teach my 12 year old son to drive a train.That's only a
small part of our remit.To be able to practically apply a massive amount of rules and regulations under immense pressure;to be able to handle emergency situations;to concentrate intensely for large portions of the day;to finish work at 02.00 sunday morning then get up for work at 04.00 monday...these all require a certain calibre of individual.
And why does the fact that some jobs are underpaid mean that I am overpaid? Surely it means that these jobs that are underpaid need to be brought in line? I don't know what you do for a living and I would certainly never presume to tell you you were overpaid if I didn't know what the job entailed.Footballers are overpaid.Movie stars are overpaid.Let's get a sense of perspective here.
of the year 
