Something that I don't think many people realize is that bills in the US usually have to move through one or more committees before they ever reach the floor and can be brought up for a vote by...
Something that I don't think many people realize is that bills in the US usually have to move through one or more committees before they ever reach the floor and can be brought up for a vote by the entire body. What this means is that you don't need to bribe 51% of congress to protect your interests, you just need to bribe the right committee members to get the bill permanently blocked or at least watered down.
For example, Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which gave him extremely wide latitude over US foreign policy. This made him a prime target for foreign influence campaigns since one well timed Rolex could completely kill foreign policies Egypt didn't like.
Kind of glosses over some of the relevant changes in the referenced article. Basically adding more detectors and setting some industry standards for hot wheel bearings or catching bearings that...
The organization also pointed to a number of steps it says the rail industry has independently taken to improve safety in the wake of the East Palestine disaster, including training thousands of first responders in communities across the country and doubling the number of people who can access a specialized system that gives real-time information about what rail cars are carrying.
Kind of glosses over some of the relevant changes in the referenced article. Basically adding more detectors and setting some industry standards for hot wheel bearings or catching bearings that are trending warm. For those that dont remember, it was a bad bearing that caused the Palestine derailment.
At the time of the accident there were allegations that the railroad cutting staffing on trains and in freight yards made adequate safety checks difficult to impossible and that the railroad had...
At the time of the accident there were allegations that the railroad cutting staffing on trains and in freight yards made adequate safety checks difficult to impossible and that the railroad had significantly increased train length in spite of safety warnings.
There are absolutely other things that could be done better, I just think it's BS that the article only mentions RR's training first responders as if they're only addressing the fallout rather...
There are absolutely other things that could be done better, I just think it's BS that the article only mentions RR's training first responders as if they're only addressing the fallout rather than the cause.
I feel its showing a particular bias without digging into real issues. Also, honestly, re-reading it, those changes are bullshit anyways.
More HBD's is absolutely a positive. Its probably only a half truth though because this is something that has been ongoing for decades and they're probably not going to go denser than the approximately 15 mile spread that seems standard now, they'll just fill gaps. This is patting themselves on the back for doing what they were doing anyways.
170F as a new threshold to set off an alarm. It looks like that was already the policy at NS and that bearing somehow wasn't even at that threshold when the bearing was seen on fire on security footage.
Watching for trending bearings. They SHOULD already be doing that.
Also, I work in the rail industry in Canada and I'm kind of blown away at how some of these issues aren't already being addressed. Like not blocking crossings... we have 5 minutes to get moving again once a car shows up (the loophole is we can pull super slow but whatever) and that has been law for a LONG time here.
These changes they are proud of now are spending on machines, not people and say nothing about reducing train length
Detectors also play a critical role. When bearings fail, they fail fast.
Deal with train length through regulating other things.
Putting a time cap on blocking crossings is the big one, but I also don't personally see train length as a safety issue unless we're talking about blocking crossings. Our train lengths are...
Putting a time cap on blocking crossings is the big one, but I also don't personally see train length as a safety issue unless we're talking about blocking crossings. Our train lengths are effectively capped in a lot of locations because we just can't block crossings and the company doesn't want to put up a bunch of overpasses. Train crews generally won't willingly block crossings in most cases because we can personally be fined. Put rules in place with jail time for managers who attempt to have crews block crossings illegally, because railways will often pay the fines for managers they like.
EDIT: for context I regularly run 8000 to 11,000 foot trains. A little less common but still normal is 12,000 feet. 13,000 to 16,000 feet is possible but its impractical for a number of reasons and we've kind of given up on that length for now. At another terminal I worked at the practical limit for not blocking crossings everywhere was 10,500 feet so they just did not run trains past that length. I'm not sure what other people think is excessive but IMO 10k feet doesn't cause me concern.
I remember hearing an interview on NPR shortly after this event. I think it was some sort of railroad expert. But they basically said for years they've been reducing and removing safety protocols...
I remember hearing an interview on NPR shortly after this event. I think it was some sort of railroad expert. But they basically said for years they've been reducing and removing safety protocols to maximize profit. They didn't think major change would occur until a more intense disaster happens.
John Oliver did a segment on exactly this, with a similar takeaway. Yet another industry where constant profit growth seeking is leading to genuine harm for society.
John Oliver did a segment on exactly this, with a similar takeaway.
Yet another industry where constant profit growth seeking is leading to genuine harm for society.
Something that I don't think many people realize is that bills in the US usually have to move through one or more committees before they ever reach the floor and can be brought up for a vote by the entire body. What this means is that you don't need to bribe 51% of congress to protect your interests, you just need to bribe the right committee members to get the bill permanently blocked or at least watered down.
For example, Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which gave him extremely wide latitude over US foreign policy. This made him a prime target for foreign influence campaigns since one well timed Rolex could completely kill foreign policies Egypt didn't like.
Damn, you mean Bob "the literal goldbricker" Menendez?
Kind of glosses over some of the relevant changes in the referenced article. Basically adding more detectors and setting some industry standards for hot wheel bearings or catching bearings that are trending warm. For those that dont remember, it was a bad bearing that caused the Palestine derailment.
At the time of the accident there were allegations that the railroad cutting staffing on trains and in freight yards made adequate safety checks difficult to impossible and that the railroad had significantly increased train length in spite of safety warnings.
Norfolk Southern eliminated key maintenance role in derailment region, union says
These changes they are proud of now are spending on machines, not people and say nothing about reducing train length
@Bl4kers
@lifebeforedeath
There are absolutely other things that could be done better, I just think it's BS that the article only mentions RR's training first responders as if they're only addressing the fallout rather than the cause.
I feel its showing a particular bias without digging into real issues. Also, honestly, re-reading it, those changes are bullshit anyways.
More HBD's is absolutely a positive. Its probably only a half truth though because this is something that has been ongoing for decades and they're probably not going to go denser than the approximately 15 mile spread that seems standard now, they'll just fill gaps. This is patting themselves on the back for doing what they were doing anyways.
170F as a new threshold to set off an alarm. It looks like that was already the policy at NS and that bearing somehow wasn't even at that threshold when the bearing was seen on fire on security footage.
Watching for trending bearings. They SHOULD already be doing that.
Also, I work in the rail industry in Canada and I'm kind of blown away at how some of these issues aren't already being addressed. Like not blocking crossings... we have 5 minutes to get moving again once a car shows up (the loophole is we can pull super slow but whatever) and that has been law for a LONG time here.
Detectors also play a critical role. When bearings fail, they fail fast.
Deal with train length through regulating other things.
You are in the industry. Can you please spell out what other things one might regulate to shorten the trains effectively?
Putting a time cap on blocking crossings is the big one, but I also don't personally see train length as a safety issue unless we're talking about blocking crossings. Our train lengths are effectively capped in a lot of locations because we just can't block crossings and the company doesn't want to put up a bunch of overpasses. Train crews generally won't willingly block crossings in most cases because we can personally be fined. Put rules in place with jail time for managers who attempt to have crews block crossings illegally, because railways will often pay the fines for managers they like.
EDIT: for context I regularly run 8000 to 11,000 foot trains. A little less common but still normal is 12,000 feet. 13,000 to 16,000 feet is possible but its impractical for a number of reasons and we've kind of given up on that length for now. At another terminal I worked at the practical limit for not blocking crossings everywhere was 10,500 feet so they just did not run trains past that length. I'm not sure what other people think is excessive but IMO 10k feet doesn't cause me concern.
I remember hearing an interview on NPR shortly after this event. I think it was some sort of railroad expert. But they basically said for years they've been reducing and removing safety protocols to maximize profit. They didn't think major change would occur until a more intense disaster happens.
John Oliver did a segment on exactly this, with a similar takeaway.
Yet another industry where constant profit growth seeking is leading to genuine harm for society.