4 ms·
One of the things that I find interesting in terms of long lasting standard or infrastructure development is that small variations in design choices early in a
by mildchalupa 4y ago
One of the things that I find interesting in terms of long lasting standard or infrastructure development is that small variations in design choices early in a system result in radically different performance down the line. For instance the width or guage of a train track will greatly influence the carrying capacity and the size of objects transportable via rail. Same for the size of lane of road. Infrastructure, and standards tend to have an inertia like quality as changeover to a slightly improved system takes significant capital.
In general it seems absolutely insane to me that we rely on an antique control strategy for the Subway while in other industries outside of rail such as aviation or automotive such a system would be easily automated.
- pantalaimon 4y agoThe subway is actually a systems that is easier to change than others (unless you talk about the physical dimensions of the train) since it’s an isolated system and lines are usually separate too, so you don’t have to change it all at one.
- bregma 4y agoYou're not describing the New York City subway. The L line was separated from pretty much everything else so it got upgraded to CBTC over a few years as budget, time constraints, and politics allowed. The rest of the network is thoroughly interwoven and runs 24x7. It also carries more people daily than all the other systems on the continent combined.
- Tokkemon 4y agoSure, but the New York Subway is the most interlined metro system in the world. You have to essentially change everything at once, or at least go trunk line by trunk line, or run two separate systems concurrently. None of which are easy options.