They should do the same for bus drivers then. My theory is that a love of shunting comes from not having grown out of the childhood Hornby train set. The only thing missing in real life is the time-saving big hand that comes out of the sky and lifts the vehicle off the track and into its new position.

Having a shunt for a 67 metre vehicle in the middle of a line with capacity for a tram every two minutes each direction is not good design. They might need to have an additional relay driver on board for these moves. They should have a grand union for maximum flexibility in operational options at this corner. They could probably do it with 18 metre radius but the insistance on 25 metres probably kills it. I'm sure I recall that the four curves at Central are 20 metres and they decided to accept the Variotrams scraping around the curves. Not sure if they've ever replaced track there but it would be pretty low wear at those frequencies and at crawl speed.

If the CAFs are fitted with transponders, surely they can change points from on board?

Tony P
---InTramsDownUnder@..., <arg@...> wrote :

I think all this compulsive shunting is a “healthy workplace initiative” about OH&S and fatigue management - making drivers get up and change ends all the time is a health benefit for them as, we’re told, “sitting is the new smoking”. if these drivers just sat on their arses all day encountering balloon loops and junctions pointing where they want to go, they’d get slothful and morbidly obese, so getting them off their clackers and changing ends is the healthy alternative. And, if the IWLR is any guide, they’ll have to get out and press a button on a post to change the points anyway.