• catloaf@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    4 months ago

    It’s effectively impossible to engineer around knowingly unsafe operation. The trains are fine, it’s the railroads operating them unsafely and the state and federal governments refusing to maintain infrastructure that is the problem.

    • jake_jake_jake_@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      4 months ago

      i wish the govt was in charge of maintaining the infrastructure, and i wish the govt owned the infrastructure then prioritized passenger traffic over freight so we could get some semblance of a working regional rail system.

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 months ago

          They often do prioritize passenger trains, but if it’s single track already occupied by a long, slow freight train, the passenger train is going to have to wait anyway.

    • reddig33@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      I dunno. You never hear about high speed rail in Japan derailing, or the monorail at DisneyWorld going off the track. There was some crazy invention ages ago where a train with a gyroscope actually traveled on a single rail. We’ve got to do better than this.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        4 months ago

        Yeah, because they actually care about safety and put money into maintenance.

        Most derailments happen due to operational error such as too much speed for the track (preventable with ATC), equipment failure (preventable with better inspection and maintenance) or external factors like a car on the tracks (not really preventable without major gate upgrades).

        The only real technological innovations are automated train systems, but that technology already exists, we just don’t use it in the US because the private rail operators make more money by cutting corners, not spending on upgrades.