Train crash in New Jersey

bingham67 said:
Very sad :(
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The US is rather behind on these, and IIRC the authorities have extended the deadline to fit it. However, it can be very complex to fit something that is designed to interfere with critical systems especially if it is a retrofit to vehicles not designed to accept it.
 
I struggle to comprehend that a country so advanced as the US doesn't have any form of overspeed protection on its rail system. We've had TPWS fitted for years now, which whilst not being an ideal system it certainly would mitigate against accidents such as these.
 
ChrisUK1983 said:
I struggle to comprehend that a country so advanced as the US doesn't have any form of overspeed protection on its rail system. We've had TPWS fitted for years now, which whilst not being an ideal system it certainly would mitigate against accidents such as these.
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A fair point but a few things to be considered here.

Train travel in the US is all but non-existent. A few lines in the north east do have heavy ridership, but that's about it for the entire country.

Most train lines are run by some form of local, state or federal entity... meaning they're run by the government. Make of that what you will.

PTC (positive train control) has been mandated by congress but doesn't have to be installed until ~ 2018-2022.

On a personal note, about 15 years ago I looked into taking Am Trak from Fort Worth to New Orleans (about a 10 hour drive). The cost was ~ 3x what flying would cost me and I had to drive to San Antonio (5 hr drive) to meet the train and it would require spending the night on the train.... 16 hours on the train from a location that was a few hundred miles closer to the destination than my home was.

Needless to say I just laughed and hung up the phone.
 
ChrisUK1983 said:
I struggle to comprehend that a country so advanced as the US doesn't have any form of overspeed protection on its rail system. We've had TPWS fitted for years now, which whilst not being an ideal system it certainly would mitigate against accidents such as these.
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They're behind in a lot of things. Their electrical distribution network falls over in a slight breeze for example.
 
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