this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 129 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The size of SUVs these days is getting out of hand.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The railroad system is so safe y’all. Trust us. It’s the workers fault and the consumers fault if anything is broken or neglected. We’re entirely without fault!!

[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Big problem here is that the freight railroads are all being run like vulture capital operations. They own the trackage, so it's their responsibility to maintain it, and it's not like they don't have the money. Norfolk Southern's profits (not revenue, this is after costs) Sept 30 2022- Sept 30 2023 were over 8 billion dollars. Union Pacific did $14 billion in 2022. They can afford to maintain their shit, but they're not; they're just letting their tracks and rolling stock go to hell and shrugging when it blows up. Just flat out not paying your cost centers is not a thing a sane business does if it wants to keep doing business for long. I'm convinced that the major rail carriers long-term plan is to just not pay to repair a goddamn thing until the rail infra is completely broken, declare bankruptcy, and then sell it to the government. The government will make CONRAIL 2 (see: CONRAIL, which is what happened the last time they pulled this shit), spend an ass-ton of taxpayer dollars fixing this bullshit, and then sell it back to the privates for pennies on the dollar because of FrEe MaRkEt EfFiCiEnCy.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

In America, socialism is something you only get once you become a powerful enough capitalist enterprise. The state produces the means of production and then just hands it over to you while you collect profits. Another great example of this is the thousands of miles of dark fiber optic cable buried in the US that ISPs refuse to connect at the "last mile." Why spend a bunch of money giving everybody fiber when they're already paying you a kidney every month for shitty rural DSL?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Someone deregulated certain safety aspects of the railroad system for cooperate profits recently and since then there has been more accidents

[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The Boeing planes are also very safe.

It's the fault of the pilots for not understanding undocumented things and not having checked plug doors nuts before taking off !

In any case it definitely has nothing to do with corporate greed hindering safety. Definitely.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It’s the fault of the pilots for not understanding undocumented things and not having checked plug doors nuts before taking off !

Pretty sure they got away with not fully fixing this one by whining to the FAA that the full fix would be too costly.

Like, what is the fucking use of our institutions like the FAA if all they god damned do is rubber stamp this shit for their corpo fuckwit buddies?

[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (5 children)

(46.8977650, -114.0367078)

Missoula, MT USA

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Bizarre to not have any gates.

Or a fucking bridge/tunnel, lol.

Edit: or even electrified rail 😂

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Truly, the hero we need.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Don't spoil the fun

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

What in the

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The dude solved the trolley problem

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

What about the three-trolley problem though?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (2 children)

In Québec in 1998 during the ice storm, we missed power for 5 weeks. They derailled train to bring them at some place to plug their big diesel generators on the city power system.

Yes they were driving train on the asphalt road, I'm sure you can find pic and videos or it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

And there is also one of those rare "railroad crossing an expressway" in St-Hyacinthe near exit 130 on A20.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Yup, I saw it multiple times, always a strange feeling

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I remember seeing this on TV and was like WTF indeed!!!

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

Dispatch: it's... impossible!

Conductor: no, its necessary.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago

c/bitchimatrain

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Is the train reversing or does the sequence of these images not make sense

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

https://imgur.com/RZ5Psxi

In the summer time (Missoula, MT)

You just can't see the tracks under the snow

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Funny — I def saw Missoula too but without looking closely thought it must have been Reserve and Brooks

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Trains do be reversing sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It looks like the train spun out and slid backwards off the tracks on the right

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

It's actually a train crossing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

It is reversing, or in railroadind terms running long nose forward

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (3 children)

That's some serious ice layers if it not only derails a train but supports its weight over to the road.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's a railroad crossing, it isn't free driving.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago

It's difficult to see because of the compression noise but it looks like the train is on the tracks. The tracks are just so covered with ice it looks like there are no tracks. Snow and ice are nothing to a train, leaves on the other hand can make tracks dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

I've seen a documentary about a train making a year long route around the entire world during ice age and it was still able to break though the ice. This is just bad engineering.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

The contact patch of the wheels on a train is roughly 90,000 PSI of vertical pressure. You need a lot of ice to derail a train.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This reminds me of that great meme that is Running in the 90s over footage from Polar Express

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I watch that video to get fired up about rail infrastructure.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Going where no train has gone before.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

That's an actual railroad crossing...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Polar express