Damaged train tracks cause derailments - what should be done?

[Anonymous]

There are arguments between corporations who want only automated inspection equipment and unions who want human inspections.

In a perfect world, Automated Track Inspection (ATI) equipment would inspect every bit of track that it could, and human inspectors would look at ALL of the track - even that looked at by ATI. This would be unreasonably expensive but mostly safe.

In a less perfect world, ATI would look at what it could, and humans would do the rest. This seems like a decent balance between cost and safety.

In a world devoted to corporate greed, ATI would look at everything it could and human inspectors would be done away with. This is notwithstanding the fact, based on available data, that ATI only identifies about 47% of the track problems. More derailments woud occur.

In a world devoted to Union greed, ATI would be done away with and humans would look at everything. This would be very expensive and possibly not as safe as using ATI in conjunction with human inspection, although is unclear if ATI is actually better than humans in some cases.

In all of these solutions, the presence of politicians demonstrably makes things worse and more expensive, not better. Problems like these need careful and dispassionate risk / reward analysis, something politicians cannot and will not do.

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removeSt Tee
57 minutes ago

[Chazmatazz269]

There will never be an entirely autonomous nonhuman inspection system because then ONLY the user would be responsible. Corporate greed demands other people to blame for their willful ignorance. This is a plain and simple fact that spans all industries and organizations without exception.

[NathanDavis]

what is bad... is that safety workers are encouraged to ignore warnings and keep the trains going...

I posted both links at the thread on your other question about this particular subject...

[Asker]

Thanks!!

[FunkyMonkee]

Not in every case. Sometimes, it's something on the tracks. In the case of the one in Ohio, it was a bad axle that the operators refused to deal with.

[exitseven]

There must be a way to find bad sections of tracks. I get my oil tank electrostatically tested for weak spots. Maybe there is a way to do something similar to train tracks.

[Asker]

The bad track is found relatively reliably by automated equipment or by humans. Finding it is not the problem. The real problem is alerting train crews in a timely fashion (prior to derailments) so crews can stop the train, and persuading corporations to allow appropriate responses to alerts. Also, persuading corporations that while automated inspection alone is the cheapest way to maintain track, it is not the safest way.

[exitseven]

I would imagine in the long run it is cheaper to maintain the tracks than to have derailments on a regular basis. i bet the Norfork Southern railroad will either go out of business or declare bankruptcy.

[Asker]

The corporate sociopaths want to just use automated equipment which can only identify slightly less than 50% of the types of defects that cause derailments - and let their insurance company worry about the rest. They are fighting tooth and nail against human inspections because the cost comes out of their profits - which are in the billions each year.

[Anonymous]

The obvious solution to this problem is to give money to Ukraine.

Right?

[lottiebannotie]

The service provider should be held accountable