BART has a safety system that can detect the presence of trains based on the electric potential across the tracks (since the wheels are metal). There was a collision back in the 1970s or 1980s because the repair vehicles had rubber wheels are were therefore not visible to the safety system. A BART train collided with one of the repair vehicles and killed one of the repairmen.
They do have signals and safety systems, but things go wrong anyway. Cast your eyes over the last 10 years worth at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_(2010%E...
Romania, December 2019: two trains collide almost 50 injured.
And what is more monitored and tracked than airplanes? December 2019: "Wizz Air A320 within seconds of head on collision with an Air Europa Express flight over Spain"
Re:Tradition Is Smarter (2018)
by RealityVoid on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @01:50AM
(#22042464)
Airplanes are not tracked( as in, they run on tracks) so they have more options as to where they might be. With trains it's far far simpler to position. Being on a collision course should be obvious.
Funny, I'm form Romania too, and CFR is a shining example of mismanagement. I really doubt we can extrapolate a general rule from what is happening with CFR. Precautions and some automated safety systems could surely avoid this.
Is this _really_ a concern? This sounds crazy to me, how likely are trains to actually collide? Are they not monitored and tracked? Do they not have safety systems?