It is my position that implementation of autonomous trains is not only unsafe but unconscionable given the history of the railroads safety records. When left unregulated they have proven that profits and return on shareholder investment far outweigh any concerns for the safe operations of their trains. Without any humans on a train the risks are far greater to the public, especially when trains are being run heavier and longer every day. When hazardous materials (Hazmats) are put into this equation the public’s well-being is surely in serious jeopardy. It is my understanding that one of the primary responsibilities of the FRA is to ensure that public and employee safety is placed at the forefront of any policy or regulation. It is my belief …show more content…
It should also mandate that two certified crew members must be in the cab of the locomotive to ensure safe and efficient operations. The use of autonomous technology in the rail industry is extremely limited, not fully developed and has been found to have enormous complications and failures. Even the limited implementation of safety overlay systems including positive train control and trip optimizer, both developed as a safety overlay system to assist human performance not replace it, have proven to be unreliable. Trip optimizer has had several documented failures that without human oversight could have led to catastrophic results. Positive train control also has not been implemented long enough with human oversight to even fully study what impact it may have or what complications and faults need to be corrected. Jumping right from the enactment of PTC into autonomous operations is foolish and self-serving in the name of
hard to keep up with. This is an excellent way of creating an image of
Orphan trains and Carlisle and the ways people from the past undermined the minorities and children of America. The film "The orphan Trains" tells us the story of children who were taken from the streets of New York City and put on trains to rural America. A traffic in immigrant children were developed and droves of them teamed the streets of New York (A People's History of the United States 1492-present, 260). The streets of NYC were dirty, overcrowded, and dangerous. Just as street gangs had female auxiliaries, they also had farm leagues for children (These are the Good Old Days, 19). During the time of the late 1800's and early 1900's many people were trying to help children. Progressive reformers, often called "child saver," attempted to curb exploitation of children (The American Promise, 834). One of the people who was obsessed with the plight of children was a man named Charles Brace. He created the NY "Children's Aid Society". This was a program that was best known for "Orphan Trains". In 1853, Brace founded this society to arrange trips, raise the money, and obtain legal permission needed for relocation (the Orphan trains, 1). The reaction to the orphan trains were both positive and negative.
Several measures have been put in place to try and control safety concerns. The leading areas of concern is poor working conditions for drivers, driver exhaustion, hour of service, drivers shortages, fuels prices, driver
Rail in Chicago is essential to Railroads throughout the country of North America. Chicago is also the known for it’s center in the railways throughout America. In comparison to any other city in the country, Chicago offers more railroad tracks to the surrounding states. “Chicago today remains the busiest rail hub in the United States. Each day, nearly 1,300 trains pass through the region (500 freight and 760 passenger). Chicago handles one-fourth of the nation's freight rail traffic, each day handling 37,500 railcars” (About CREATE). Being the center for American freight Chicago also is known for it railyards. The railyards are gateways to the other rail tracks. It is home t...
Once revolution takes place, the tail members that were previously caged in the last car are abruptly released into the rest of Snowpiercer. As the revolution makes its way through successive compartments of the train, the train itself begins to reflect a live-action flowchart of the class system in a hierarchal society. The middle cars of the train are treated with extensive time in this section of the film, reflecting the actual density of the middle class in the social hierarchy. Bong Joon-ho’s concentration on the middle to upper class allows him to convey his message to what he sees as the bulk of a stratified class system. Again, Joon-ho plays with similar areas of film technique: setting, props, and color, to reveal the truth behind
Question at Issue - How are the engineer and railroad negligent? What could have been done by the engineer and railroad company to prevent the accident? Would more training have invoked a different preventative response from the engineer? Are the current railroad safety regulations sufficient? Are there any warnings on the road before it curves towards the track? If you didn’t know the area would you clearly be able to spot a train? What if a car was stalled on the tracks? Would a train
Labeling theory is derived from the idea that people see themselves through the eyes of others. Individuals have different meanings set aside for similar situations. For example, society might define something as criminal, while other individuals do not. This is the case for several moral vices, such as marijuana, or the use of the death penalty as a method of punishment. When there are negative meanings and interpretations for actions, people tend to label others based on their “evil” actions.
Engineers design, build or maintain applications and systems to solve various societal problems. Their behaviors thus have a non-negligible impact on human development. Oftentimes, however, engineers are faced with the dilemma to choose between compromising their code of ethics and threatening their promising careers. It is important that engineers deem public welfare as a supreme concern and stand their ground so that they will report any observed situations that potentially can harm public safety to their superiors. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) case study is a good example of engineers being responsible with society in that they attempted multiple times to inform their supervisors in management about their concerns with the possible imminent system failure of BART. Even though their voices were ignored and they were fired by the company in the end, they made the passengers realize the probable dangers underneath this regional rail service. Consequently, on October 2nd, 1972, as a result of Automatic Train Control (ATC) failure, a BART train overshot the station at Fremont and wounded several people. In order to prevent these tragic accidents from happening, the BART case needs to be further examined for deeper understanding of the problem. This paper will use deontological ethical framework to address the cause of BART train system failure and recommend feasible plans to avert similar tragedies from occurring in the future to BART employees. Therefore, not only engineers, but also managers and board of directors should be educated about ethics and should be familiar with basic technical knowledge regarding their business.
Before the advent of the automobile, buggies were typically propelled by one or more horses. Even with the first automobiles there was a need for a drive system, though, since those horses were no longer there. One thing that has remained common to every car is a motor and transmission system of some sort, but what varies greatly between cars is what is between the transmission and the wheels, also known as the drive train. There are many different styles of drive trains, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
Autonomous cars, they are an extraordinary move in the vehicle industry! For those who do not know what autonomous cars are, they are cars that drive themself, cars that have an autopilot feature. Autonomous cars are cars of the future, there are very few as of today. One of the first are made by the Tesla company.
What is the Problem: According to the Association of American Railroads, there are over 233,000 miles of train tracks in the United States. Freight rail lines make up approximately half of all these train tracks i.e. 137,465 freight railroad miles. “Early detection is critical to the prevention of track-caused train accidents,” said FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman. “Increased track safety means improved public safety.”
Underwood, P., & Waterson, P. (2014). Systems thinking, the Swiss Cheese Model and accident analysis: A comparative systemic analysis of the Grayrigg train derailment using the ATSB, AcciMap and STAMP models. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 68, 75-94.
Trains are an excellent form of transportation when caution is used around them. Trainsand public transportation has been widely known to be a cheaper more efficient mode of transportation. It is a great alternative to driving an individual vehicle. The only major drawback to train transportation: if we do not exercise caution around trains, accidents will occur. In 2016 there were 2,025 collisions with trains.
Rail transportation is a transportation in which for movement of people and goods which from one location to another destination. Rail had been takes the important role in physical and economic development of town and cities in a country and it was developed over the world. Rail transport can be made a property value in a country increase and it must be needs improvement in transportation network expanding (Goldberg, 1970). Thus, the railway services need to be done with continuous improvement and it is important to the rail passengers of the range and quality of facilities and service on stations and trains (Gleave, S. D., 2000). The future development to a public transportation is a key to affect