4K Cab Ride NL Rhenen – Driebergen Zeist – Utrecht CS (7424) / SGMm 2990 / 20-10-2017

Train Drivers View on the sprinter service from Rhenen to Utrecht Central Station. It’s very autumny weather outside and the tracks on our way to Utrecht are very slippery. Especially between our approach in Driebergen until we’ve reached full speed after Bunnik. Because of this we extend the time to slow down the train. This means we’ll hit the brakes about 300 meters earlier than we do normally. It gives the train more time to slow down, and even when it doesn’t have any grip on the tracks the systems that keep the wheels from blocking and slipping will do their work until the train regains grip on the tracks. If the train doesn’t get the grip at all there’s the emergency brake that is needed. But we don’t need that during this video. BTW: in this video you’ll see a combined ICE train ánd as a bonus the Abellio train passes by as well. Ok, it’s 8.22 and before we depart we make a call with the signal man because we’ve received an emergency call on the GSM-R (train telephone) just before we arrived in Rhenen. When this happens the train driver must drive on sight until he has conformation from the signal man that the emergency call wasn’t meant for him but for another train or other trains. In this case the call wasn’t for us and that is why we can depart with normal speed. Good news because we don’t like to start our journey with delays. In Veenendaal we turn off the electro dynamic brakes. This isn’t a must, but as a driver I like the behavior of the train better like this when the tracks are slippery. When we pass de Haar Aansluiting there’s an IC train behind us with a 6 minute delay. That delay is too big to let us wait for it, which is why we can go in front of it. As soon as we approach Driebergen the tracks are getting slippery and we extend the time to slow down the train. As you might hear the system that keeps the wheel from blocking start working as well. Also on our departure it takes time to accelerate to the maximum speed. Also there’s a passenger keeping open one of our doors during departure, giving us the extra minute delay. He gets a free personal speech from us over the intercom. In the end we arrive with one minute delay in Utrecht, the final stop for this video. I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride and if you have any question, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below! Have a good weekend y’all! Cheers! Also follow me on Instagram and Twitter: @machiniststefan