A study on the validity of the intelligence test pass or failure criterion adopted in the Japanese railway industry.

This paper discusses the validity of the criterion for passing or failing a psychological aptitude test for train running on Japanese railways. The criterion is higher for Shinkansen (high speed) track operators than for those on narrow-gauge lines. The amount of maintenance actions required by operators in both sectors, and the mental stress put on operators, was compared. In both cases operators on narrow-gauge lines were considered to require more abilities than those on Shinkansen lines. The test result was found to have little relation to accidents, work injuries and estimation of supervisors. The authors conclude that the pass/failure criterion need not be higher for Shinkansen than for narrow-gauge lines. For the covering abstract see ITRD E113725 (C 22328 CD-ROM).