Author: David Schanoes

Commentary

Happy New, Old Three-Quarter Year

A friend of mine directed my attention to Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis website Section 2.03, “Train Accidents by Railroad Group,” in which it is possible to search, sort, select and summarize

Commentary

Granularity is Essential

So there I was, quietly minding somebody else’s business, when I received notification that Railway Age had released a new Rail Group on Air podcast, “TRB Long Freight Train Consensus Study.” The podcast featured a

Commentary

Anecdotes Are Not Data

Let’s resume where I left off, moving right along, next up: The NPRM intends to amend section 236.1029, PTC System Use and Failures. The provisions authorizing “temporary exceptions” to the prohibition on

Commentary

Just What is PTC Initialization?

“We”—old timers, old heads, just plain old—sometimes refer to ourselves as “fossils,” but we’re not really. Fossils, as far as “we” know, can’t think, change positions, make jokes, whine, or delude themselves

Commentary

Dr Pangloss vs. the Long-Train Committee

I recently printed out a prepublication copy (uncorrected proofs) of the report Long Freight Trains: Insuring Safe Operations, Mitigating Adverse Impacts submitted by the “Committee on the Impact of Trains Longer Than 7,500

Commentary

‘Something Has Gone Horribly Wrong’

Following the catastrophic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg addressed a more or less open letter to each of the Class I railroads, “urging” them to voluntarily enlist

Commentary

A Little Schadenfreude Goes a Long Way

You’re feeling bad? All alone? Misunderstood? Picked on? Unfairly accused of being completely selfish, self-aggrandizing and self-serving? Losing faith in your lobbyists? In your lobbied legislators? In the omnipotence of the market?