Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.
In other news, water is wet.
Look, I feel that the Lac-Mégantic derailment is a poor example because, while poor regulation was a factor, the largest by far was simple human error. Observe:
And of course, alter on that night the busted cylinder on the loco goes into catastrophic failure, setting fire to the thing and that necessitated the shutdown of the loco by the firefighters (to stop the flow of fuel). And then later that night when all the compressed air in the brake reservoirs ran out, that was apparently when the train started rolling.
Just read the article here. Pretty phenomenal amount of blundering in this.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3%A ... derailment
In other news, water is wet.
Look, I feel that the Lac-Mégantic derailment is a poor example because, while poor regulation was a factor, the largest by far was simple human error. Observe:
Quote:Quoted from Wikipedia:The train had five head-end locomotives, not one locomotive and four slugs. (Slugs don't have the diesel engine component - they borrow power from a controlling engine, called a 'mother'. Otherwise, they have compressors, traction motors, and everything else). The obvious thing to do with a loco whose prime mover is in some sort of mechanical distress is to fire up one of the other locos, shift control to that one, and shut down the failing one. Only then would I have gone and called for more directives, let alone go and spend the night in a hotel first!
The engineer left the lead locomotive, #5017, running to keep air pressure supplied to the train's air brakes and also applied a number of manual hand brakes.[47] Yves Bourdon, a member of the MMA's Board of Directors, stated that the air brakes of all locomotives and freight cars had been activated, as well as manual hand brakes on 5 locomotives and 10 of the 72 freight cars.[48] The TSB found that the MMA's operating plan was to leave the train parked on the main line, unattended, with an unlocked locomotive cab, alongside a public highway where it was accessible to the general public, with no additional protection.[49]
After finishing his work, the engineer departed by taxi for a local hotel, l'Eau Berge in downtown Lac-Mégantic,[50] for the night.[51] While en route to the hotel, the engineer told the taxi driver that he felt unsafe leaving a locomotive running while it was spitting oil and thick, black smoke. He said he wanted to call the US office of the MMA (in Hermon, Maine) as they would be able to give him other directives.
And of course, alter on that night the busted cylinder on the loco goes into catastrophic failure, setting fire to the thing and that necessitated the shutdown of the loco by the firefighters (to stop the flow of fuel). And then later that night when all the compressed air in the brake reservoirs ran out, that was apparently when the train started rolling.
Just read the article here. Pretty phenomenal amount of blundering in this.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3%A ... derailment