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The tracks are a complex system that makes it possible to ride at high speed where the driver can’t see ahead if his braking zone is clear, but it is still safe
by tinus_hn 4y ago
The tracks are a complex system that makes it possible to ride at high speed where the driver can’t see ahead if his braking zone is clear, but it is still safe. It’s full of failsafes to make that possible but these also cause the delays. For instance if a signal bulb burns out, that part of the track is automatically blocked until it is repaired.
There are a lot of delays but not a lot of accidents, basically the only accidents are those the system can’t catch, so people on the tracks and cars ignoring the signals.
- sandworm101 4y agoClosing tracks for blown bulbs? Every basic exit sign above every door in every public building contains a redundant bulb specifically to prevent closure in the event of a dead bulb.
- tinus_hn 4y agoI’m sure most of HackerNews has some handwavy easy ideas for how to improve it. But as you can imagine there is a good reason the system is built on hard guarantees, not obvious shortcuts. If your simple exit sign fails, it isn’t going to cause two trains carrying potentially thousands of passengers to collide head-on. If that happens it’s a major disaster that’ll be world news and there’s going to be questions to be answered, like why the safety wasn’t guaranteed.
- Nextgrid 4y agoIf this was the case they'd just be waiting until the second bulb burnt out as well and then we're back to square one.