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[-] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 164 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

This kid just got 10k for saying rail infrastructure is failing due to a lack of maintenance. Specifically the springs at junctions. The main failing here in the US though is that rail maintenance falls to rail companies that have little financial incentive to spend the money on safety. That may be changing, however if the federal government just hands over money with inadequate oversight it will just enrich the companies.

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/fact-sheet-rail-safety

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/how-us-rail-system-works

https://www.publicrailnow.org/site/assets/files/1036/putting_america_back_on_track_final_6-30-24_single_pages.pdf

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 145 points 3 weeks ago

The main failing here in the US though is that rail maintenance falls to rail companies that have little financial incentives to spend the money on safety. That may be changing, however if the federal government just hands over money with inadequate oversight it will just enrich the companies.

Sounds almost as if critical infrastructure should be owned by the public.

[-] lemmeBe@sh.itjust.works 62 points 3 weeks ago

But that stinks of communism, doesn't it... 😄

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 18 points 3 weeks ago

I can't wait until Mccarthy has his final death and nobody remembers him anymore...

[-] kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 weeks ago

Need to remember the bastards to remember to piss on their graves.

Much as I understand your sentiment, I think it's important to remember the people who did horrible things like McCarthy, and use him as a warning to our younger generations who didn't see the problems they created.

You know, and the grave pissing.

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Thanks to how history is being recorded, there's no chance that he will be forgotten until civilization collapses.

I wouldn't want history to actually forget any shitty person (or good person) because that makes it way easier for someone with similar ideals to take power again.

It's more the sentiment.

I have a metaphorical bucket of piss just for Margaret Thatcher. ^26+6=1^

[-] Neon@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Given that you yourself are remembering him, you can't wait until you die / have dementia?

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 19 points 3 weeks ago

Life is one endless torment after another, soooooooo.......

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

But that stinks of communism, doesn’t it… 😄

Sprinkle a bit of communism on that capitalism.

[-] 0x0@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago
[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago

The alternative to communism is drift towards monarchy.

[-] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Check out that last link I posted there

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Check out that last link I posted there

I wasn't disagreeing with you, I was making an (hopefully) entertaining comment.

[-] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

No disagreement inferred! Just playing along and pointing out the last link to those that may not get to it is all. I'll just go back to doomscrolling election predictions and lamenting our lack of RCV here in the states.

[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Conrail has left the chat.

[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 46 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

if the federal government just hands over money with inadequate oversight it will just enrich the companies.

The worst part of this is that that money is not just wasted, it's used to lobby politicians to make it worse.

And to be clear, the railroads don't need more money, back when Biden banned Warren Buffet's railroad from striking, I did the math, they could afford to double their work force, giving them all half the year off, and pay each one of them 100K/year, and still give the shareholders multiple billions a year.

[-] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago

Absolutely, Robber Barons have been a thing since the rails were laid. It's a shit system and the main reason we don't have highspeed rail.

[-] aramis87@fedia.io 14 points 3 weeks ago

I took Amtrak across the country once. The freight trains are supposed to give priority to the passenger trains so they leave and arrive (mostly) on time, but (outside the NEC) they mostly don't bother and they've never been held to those requirements. Once again, prioritizing "stuff" over people.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Oh it's simpler than that. They just go around the requirement via loopholes in the agreements. They know they're required to give priority, so they just make the freight trains too long to fit on the side track on those routes. So if there's a conflict, the freight train physically cannot get out of the way and the passenger one has to.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 3 weeks ago

They're prioritizing profits. This is just capitalism working as intended.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 5 points 3 weeks ago

Not to mention the inflationary effects of shareholders skimming a set percentage in profits off everything that gets transported over rail. If the government ran it at cost, a huge drag on the economy would be removed.

this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2024
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