Bilevel hand brakes

When watching trainmen setting the hand brakes on the new bilevels at Newark Penn Station I noticed that they tighten when the lever is lifted up and ratchet when the lever is pushed down. It would make more sense to me if they tightened on the downstroke. Is there a reason for the current design?

design has always been like that, if it tightend on down stroke how would featherweight employee put on a good enough hand brake ??