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Back to the Point! Who says there aren't as many mishaps in Europe? The state run railways say, that's WHO! Despite the failure to report mishaps to the public and the utter lack of accountability to anyone, accidents in Europe are far more common than here - and the consequences are often far more severe. The fact is that in America, public awareness is much more open, and our governments are intended to be servants of the people - rather than the other way around. Thus the people have a more effective means to demand safety. American railway standands are far more protective, both in preventing accidents, and in minimizing the injuries and property damage that results. In fact, one of the world wide jokes that often get repeated in my end of the profession (Signal Engineering) is that train wreaks on the Italian State Railway are that country's means of population control. Ha Ha!?? Same thing has been said about India, and Russia. As for the German ICE train, you might as well be riding in a tinfoil box! In 1987, a "Stoned" Conrail train crew jammed the onboard Cab Signals because the bells and whistles were hurting their ears. Later on they missed an approach and overran directly into the the path of an Amtrak train doing 138 mph. Wham! 585 passengers were on that train. 16 died and 44 were injured. The other 525 were unhurt. That with an impact speed well over a hundred miles an hour! The crew is now in federal prison. Automatic Train Stop was mandated on all Corridor freights. Locomotive engineer licencing and mandatory drug testing all resulted from our goverment's reponse to this accident. Compare that to the 175 out of 200 who died in the German ICE train wreak of two years ago, or the death toll in the Chunnel fire - Or the hundreds who die in India every year. Nothing has changed at all in these countries after their mishaps. The simple answer is that American mishaps are widely reported and European accidents are not. We have a completely open society here with much less censorship. Plus, U.S. railroads are held accountable by a government that is itself held accountable. Perceptions are thus very skewed when trying to compare. RmC
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