> Why is that?

What exactly?

A conductor always just gets a movement order. They are not able to assess whether the track is clear, that's the reason why the signalling system exists in the first place. How they get that movement order doesn't necessarily tell what the security steps were to back it.

Of course an attentive conductor can notice and mention there something being weird ("Doesn't the other train normally arrive first?"), but that's a rare lucky occasion, nothing to be relied on. And they just need to swallow the answer ("No, you go first today...") anyway.

> and conductor just wouldn't move unless green

The conductor won't ever move unless they get a movement authority, which most of the time is a green signal.

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AdrianCX 12 hours ago | parent [-]

so in this case, couldnt conductor just say - make it green, not my problem, staying still until then

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1718627440 12 hours ago | parent [-]

Why would they trust "a random blinking green light", but not a written and stamped order? Yes, they could do that (and sometimes it will actually prevent an accident), but it will be more being a snowflake, then being a decision for safety. A conductor is simply not responsible for whether it's safe to drive on a given track. Their equivalent is not a car driver.

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AdrianCX 12 hours ago | parent [-]

The "random blinking green light" is generally more reliable

Being a snowflake here has 2 benefits:

1. Getting company managing tracks to fix the lights (they need to deal with angry customers and pay off damages for delays and more), so there's a direct path from unreliable lights to economic damage.

2. Avoid crashing and killing yourself and passengers on the offchance the person on the radio is a moron

	▲	1718627440 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> The "random blinking green light" is generally more reliable Yes, but not because of the light itself, but due to the safety steps done before. Which should also have happened before the movement order in any other form. As a train driver, you do not have the information required to distinguish these situations. If drivers simple refuse all movement orders, besides "green lights", running trains will become a rare occasion and the drivers will simply get fired for not doing their job. _The train driver is not the one who decides where a train goes._ For this safety-relevant decision a driver is (roughly speaking) nothing more than an innocent bystander. You can think of a train driver more of the person who makes sure the automatic engine works correctly and also has an eye, that nothing weird happens. Most of your train driver education is knowing how the train works and how to get a broken train back working fast. In addition you also learn the safety protocols how you get the information in which state the engine should operate in. This is what train signals are, it's not really the equivalent of a green traffic light for car traffic.