I think they don't bother because 99.9998% of rail crashes are attributed to operator error. Not saying that's the actual cause, just saying that's where the blame is laid.
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I think you're a bit hasty in flipping the bozo bit, Glatt. I didn't see anything in that article that says that they've been able to reproduce the conditions that caused the accident. And I can tell you from experience that debugging can be hard. Especially so when you've got hardware and software involved. Not to mention that part of the circuit is train tracks that live outdoors.
Before pointing and laughing at these folks I'd want to know if they have access to all the circuitry and microcode involved. If they don't, they're trying to debug this thing blind. I'd also like to know if they've been allowed to try to reproduce this under working conditions. They may not. Metro may not want to risk squishing one or two of their trains to find the answer to this issue. |
Certainly it's an intricate dealing. You think there'd be a flowchart or something. ;)
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...or a graph! We like graphs :rolleyes:
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Article about it here. Three months ago. Quote:
The sensor manufacturer is Alstom Signaling, and it's some sort of problem with their sensors. Or a problem with how their sensors are installed into the system. Shawnee is right with her o-ring joke. We need Richard Feynman to stick one of these sensors into a glass of ice water and figure it out. |
Just for the record, they finally opened that stretch of track this week. But they still don't know what's wrong with the sensors, so all the trains are still being operated manually. My guess is that this is now how things are going to run on the system. The new standard.
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...Right up until a negligent train driver causes a wreck, and they suddenly decide that what we really need for safety is computer automation...
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After all, trains don’t collide. When the collision avoidance system failed repeatedly previously, trains did not collide. Therefore don’t worry; be happy. What any management says when employees work for them. Some believe the operator was at fault. Even that is often directly traceable to top management that did not provide the necessary atttitude and knowledge. |
Another indication of a company that may have management problems. From ABC News on 23 Oct 2009:
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Management failures continue in the Washington Metro system. Over a month ago, a track worker was killed. Trains are supposed to be notified of track work ongoing, also see warning signs that track workers are ahead, and slow to 10 MPH in that construction area. And yet many workers note trains fly through construction areas at 50 MPH - full speed.
Death only in the Washington Metro account for over 40% of all American railroad workers. The 22 Jun crash and death of six passengers did what? Yesterday, add two more deaths. From the Washington Post of 27 Jan 2010: Quote:
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What did the Navy do when problems existed. Navy had a three day stand down of the entire Navy. Management addressed problems directly traceable to top management. How did Marchionne fix Fiat? In sixty days he fired all top management. Therefore Fiat became so productive as to even buy Chrysler. Only public silence can explain so many Washington Metro murders - especially when investigations have made the reasons so flagrantly obvious. |
The incident this week was caused by human error. There was supposed to be a lookout on the work crew watching for oncoming rail traffic. That publicly unidentified person was not doing his/her job. That's not management, that's worker incompetence. A lazy co-worker killed those two track workers the other night. The track maintenance truck that backed over them was going in reverse and had limited visibility. The track workers were supposed to be watching for it.
But I suppose you are right. Management should identify the slacker lookout and punish him/her and make sure everyone else is doing their job. Metro is fucked right now. It's seeing reduced ridership because of the economy and because some people are turned off by all the safety problems. So it has reduced revenue. They are holding public hearings shortly to discuss whether they should cut service, or raise prices, or both. That's going to hurt them even more as it pushes more riders into their cars. |
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These are not accidents. Employee actions are directly traceable to 'attitude and knowledge' which only management defines. That is a management primary responsibility as even defined by William Edward Deming. To provide the attitude and knowledge. Even Federal inspectors noted how employees would speed up when safety runs demand they slow to 10 MPH - because even inspector lives were threatened by employee safety violations. One employee may be a personnel problem. Routine violations - that is only blatant management failure. Six deaths on 22 Jun before this got any attention? Washington area residents should be screaming for the heads of all senior Metro management. Instead, mostly silence. And a post that blames an employee for doing what is apparently routine. Meanwhile, that truck must also have a beeper when backing up. No beeper apparently meant two workers never knew the truck was coming. Even the workers could not protect themselves. A construction truck without that backup beeper should never even leave the shop - if management is doing its job. |
From the Washington Post of 13 Feb 2010:
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Thanks for that info tw. I hadn't gotten around to looking up further reports about why that train derailed.
I rode metro yesterday, and it was really bizarre what they were doing. They were running trains every 25 minutes, instead of every 5 minutes, due to some problem with the snow, so they only had a 5th of their normal capacity. There were dark trains parked in a couple of the stations underground, so they were switching the live, passenger carrying, trains around the dead ones. When I arrived at my normal station in the suburbs to begin my commute, they had cones set up to force all passengers to the tracks that are normally outbound. So when the crowded train came 25 minutes later, it was coming from the "wrong" direction for that track. The frustrating thing was that they could have been running 8 car trains so that more people would fit on each one, but the trains were only 6 car trains. I left work 2 hours early to beat the inevitable horror show that was obviously coming at the end of the day, and got home fine, but the paper this morning has front page news of the horrible evening commute. The federal workers who went in at staggered times on a delayed opening in the morning all left at exactly the same time at the end of the day and gridlocked the city and overwhelmed the Metro. |
What a way to run a railroad!
In our hippy-fascist social utopia Down Under, senior management can be held criminally liable for workplace deaths. The charge isn't "murder" but can still result in prison. Do you have that in the Great Satan? |
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