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Interesting to compare these very different problems with another country with a dysfunctional rail system, the UK. Here, privatisation has led to massive cost

Interesting to compare these very different problems with another country with a dysfunctional rail system, the UK. Here, privatisation has led to massive cost inefficiencies and logistical nightmares caused by trains and track being operated by independent organisations. It also gives us the more insidious long-term issue that there is no longer a railway working culture, where someone could start as a footplateman and ascend to upper management in the warm embrace of a single national rail company, bringing their invaluable working experience up with them. Nowadays the people at senior levels are more likely to have moved sideways from Sainsbury's and will know sod-all about how to run a railway.

twblalock 11y ago
And yet, no matter how much you have to complain about, your trains are 10X better than what we have in the US. In Silicon Valley, the high-tech capital of the world, a pedestrian suicide (which happens depressingly often, and therefore cannot be considered an unusual event by the transit planners) brings the entire Caltrain network to a halt for two hours. And by "network," I mean the only line the network has.
- creshal 11y ago
  With the German Railways (which are, despite their shocking incompetence – 5 minute delays, really? Are you even trying? – apparently still better than average), down times for these events depends on the line in question – usually it's shut down for an hour (depending on how messy the suicide was). But that down time cascades – one line shut down affects a dozen trains directly, and many more indirectly (if they wait for the passengers of the delayed trains, or if there's a single-rail bottleneck somewhere that's blocked by the sudden rush, etc. …).
  - abrugsch 11y ago
    one interesting point to note from your comment, is that a suicide will have indirect knock-on effects on other trains "if they wait for the passengers of the delayed trains". that NEVER happens on UK trains anymore. if your train is late, and there is only one connecting train to your destination... well that's just too bad, because in all likelihood your connecting train is run by a completely different operator and they have no obligation to wait for the delayed one.
    - twblalock 11y ago
      At least you have other trains to take.
    - chrisseaton 11y ago
      But I believe they do have an obligation to get you to your destination. A couple of times I've missed a last train due to an earlier delayed one and they just put you in a taxi no questions asked.
    - dagw 11y ago
      if your train is late, and there is only one connecting train to your destination... well that's just too bad Maybe there's a difference between local and long distance lines, but the last time I was in England and that happened, they just rounded up everybody who missed their connection and put them a couple of min cabs.
      - creshal 11y ago
        We Germans are, for some reason, kinda nervous when someone mentions "trains" and "round up everybody" in the same sentence. So we just divert and delay trains.
      - claudius 11y ago
        That could also happen in Germany. It’s not that the connecting train has any obligation to wait, rather, the operator of the late train has an incentive to bring its customers to their destination despite the delay. If both trains are run by the same company, having the second one wait may be the cheapest way to achieve that. However, if that is – for some reason, e.g. last train late at night or somesuch – not possible, you can well get a voucher for a taxi ride to your destination a few hundred kilometres away.
    - creshal 11y ago
      Well, not that it helps too much. The worst case I had – last-minute overnight ride to attend a funeral – my first train was late, the connecting train left before it finally arrived, the alternate train was also late, so I couldn't catch the third anyway, the second alternate was also late… The original plan was to switch trains once and sleep during the rest of the ride. In the end I was re-routed four times, awake the whole night coordinating said re-routes with the train operators (and getting all the paperwork necessary to get free tickets for the alternate trains). Could've just used the bloody car instead.
growse 11y ago
It would seem to me that managing a large organisation like Sainsbury's has more in common with managing a large organisation like Network Rail/Generic TOC than being able to drive a train does.

twblalock 11y ago

And yet, no matter how much you have to complain about, your trains are 10X better than what we have in the US. In Silicon Valley, the high-tech capital of the world, a pedestrian suicide (which happens depressingly often, and therefore cannot be considered an unusual event by the transit planners) brings the entire Caltrain network to a halt for two hours. And by "network," I mean the only line the network has.

creshal 11y ago
With the German Railways (which are, despite their shocking incompetence – 5 minute delays, really? Are you even trying? – apparently still better than average), down times for these events depends on the line in question – usually it's shut down for an hour (depending on how messy the suicide was). But that down time cascades – one line shut down affects a dozen trains directly, and many more indirectly (if they wait for the passengers of the delayed trains, or if there's a single-rail bottleneck somewhere that's blocked by the sudden rush, etc. …).
- abrugsch 11y ago
  one interesting point to note from your comment, is that a suicide will have indirect knock-on effects on other trains "if they wait for the passengers of the delayed trains". that NEVER happens on UK trains anymore. if your train is late, and there is only one connecting train to your destination... well that's just too bad, because in all likelihood your connecting train is run by a completely different operator and they have no obligation to wait for the delayed one.
  - twblalock 11y ago
    At least you have other trains to take.
  - chrisseaton 11y ago
    But I believe they do have an obligation to get you to your destination. A couple of times I've missed a last train due to an earlier delayed one and they just put you in a taxi no questions asked.
  - dagw 11y ago
    if your train is late, and there is only one connecting train to your destination... well that's just too bad Maybe there's a difference between local and long distance lines, but the last time I was in England and that happened, they just rounded up everybody who missed their connection and put them a couple of min cabs.
    - creshal 11y ago
      We Germans are, for some reason, kinda nervous when someone mentions "trains" and "round up everybody" in the same sentence. So we just divert and delay trains.
    - claudius 11y ago
      That could also happen in Germany. It’s not that the connecting train has any obligation to wait, rather, the operator of the late train has an incentive to bring its customers to their destination despite the delay. If both trains are run by the same company, having the second one wait may be the cheapest way to achieve that. However, if that is – for some reason, e.g. last train late at night or somesuch – not possible, you can well get a voucher for a taxi ride to your destination a few hundred kilometres away.
  - creshal 11y ago
    Well, not that it helps too much. The worst case I had – last-minute overnight ride to attend a funeral – my first train was late, the connecting train left before it finally arrived, the alternate train was also late, so I couldn't catch the third anyway, the second alternate was also late… The original plan was to switch trains once and sleep during the rest of the ride. In the end I was re-routed four times, awake the whole night coordinating said re-routes with the train operators (and getting all the paperwork necessary to get free tickets for the alternate trains). Could've just used the bloody car instead.

growse 11y ago

It would seem to me that managing a large organisation like Sainsbury's has more in common with managing a large organisation like Network Rail/Generic TOC than being able to drive a train does.