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This business of mischief-makers throwing rocks at trains is a real thing and has been for a long time. In 1974, in rural coastal Connecticut, I was on the way
by OliverJones 11y ago
This business of mischief-makers throwing rocks at trains is a real thing and has been for a long time. In 1974, in rural coastal Connecticut, I was on the way to a beach, on a footbridge over the Eastern Corridor tracks. There were two middle-school-age boys. One had a brick in hand, and the other said "hey, here it comes." I intervened and prevented that brick from hitting the engineer's windshield.
But they probably waited for the next train.
- ScottBurson 11y agoYeah, I think some cracking down on this might be a good idea, even if it means blanketing hundreds of miles of track with lights and surveillance cameras. Whoever threw that rock at this train is a mass murderer and should be treated as such.
- ScottBurson 11y agoHere's probably a better idea: get rid of the windshields; replace them with steel plates. Put some cameras on the roof and monitors on the inside where the windshields were. You could even use IR-sensitive cameras at night, to better spot people on the tracks.
- jcrawfordor 11y agoThere is some use of cameras instead of windows on the train involved - instead of the conventional wing mirrors, it has rearward-facing cameras for watching the platform. The operators hate it, and have raised concerns about safety. The quality of human vision, related to both resolution and more importantly dynamic range, is much, much better than any extant camera and display system (especially affordable ones). The system you propose simply wouldn't allow the operators to see well enough, even with very expensive equipment used.