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Re: When Will the Feds Stop Outlawing Railcars Used By the Rest of the World?
Author: fkrock
Date: 07-14-2016 - 09:40
In many cases comparing overseas safety records with United States is very much another apples and oranges situation. Overseas typically many more employees are involved with train operations than here.
Since many European railroads were government owned from the beginning, politics entered into railway employment. You see many more guards on station platforms and at road crossings than in this country. Some of this is government make-work.
The United Kingdom is different today since railroads are being re-privatized. Trying to get information while standing on a station platform can be very difficult. One person standing at a gate serving two platforms visually checks that passenger are carrying tickets. That's the last ticket check until a trainman looks at them after the train departs. As many as three different trains may be waiting at the same platform with departures only a minute or two apart. Signs by the trains do not list all stops so if you want confirmation that this train will stop where you want to get off, you're out of luck.
Since many European railroads were government owned from the beginning, politics entered into railway employment. You see many more guards on station platforms and at road crossings than in this country. Some of this is government make-work.
The United Kingdom is different today since railroads are being re-privatized. Trying to get information while standing on a station platform can be very difficult. One person standing at a gate serving two platforms visually checks that passenger are carrying tickets. That's the last ticket check until a trainman looks at them after the train departs. As many as three different trains may be waiting at the same platform with departures only a minute or two apart. Signs by the trains do not list all stops so if you want confirmation that this train will stop where you want to get off, you're out of luck.
