Oh Pulleeese!

So you suppose all those politicians in the senate (including all the democrats) who rammed this PTC thing through want to do away with your job? Actually, they couldn't care less about your job. Or you! They just want to LOOK like they are doing something good - and would we all be bowing to big brother if he didn't at least look like he was solving all problems.

As to "Ricky Gates's hazy ride": it actually was under PTC (as PTC is defined in the new senate bill) and it would have safely stopped him and prevented the accident at Gun Powder River. But good old ricky-baby couldn'd stand the bells and whistles it kept sounding off, due to his being high on pot. So to quiet them, he tampered with the safety mechanisms that would have automatically stopped him.

That's why he's in federal prison. He is not there because he ran the red, nor even because he was smokin pot on the job - but because of deliberate tampering with safety equipment!

Nothing devised by man will ever be fool proof. No matter how fancy your PTC, ATP, ATS, ATC or whatever gets, there will always be an even fancier fool to defeat it.

It will do nothing for the fool. But it will help all honest and dedicated railroaders avoid an innocent but potentially fatal mistake. In that regard, I'll be happy to get whatever help I can get!

BTW- paranoia is unbecoming any responsible person, such as a conductor.