That would be news to the aviation industry... instrument flying.. (pilots not looking out the window) can't be all that safe then either.
mudchicken Ulrich What so bad about cab signals? Are they hard on the eyes? When you're preoccupied with watching a screen instead of looking out the wndow/ windshield. I-Zombies gone railroading.
Ulrich What so bad about cab signals? Are they hard on the eyes?
What so bad about cab signals? Are they hard on the eyes?
When you're preoccupied with watching a screen instead of looking out the wndow/ windshield. I-Zombies gone railroading.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Having developed the requirements, analyzed systems and written more programs than I wish to count, I can tell you that the more complex the system the more prone it is to errors. No matter how much testing you do on the software, you cannot think of every situation that PTC will encounter and program it into the system. In addition their is an old trueism in the computer world "GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT". In other words bad data will result in bad results.
Seems to me that, at present, cab signals are the redundancy.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
I think Positive Train Control could eliminate the need for intermediate block signals, if the railroads wished to do away with them, but, given the fact that something that may be a PTC antenna has been installed on or by many of them, I don't think that's going to happen.Control point signals, and perhaps the approach signals thereto, probably will stay no matter what. Back when I hired out, the CNW main line was protected by Automatic Train Control, with cab signals. There were no intermediate block signals at all--just distant signals and home signals for the interlockings. When UP came in, intermediate signals were installed...ATC and cab signals are still in force as well. I suspect those will disappear when PTC is operational (UP expects to make the new 2018 deadline).
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
DSchmitt Norm48327 Ulrich In this day and age of smart technology are lineside signals still really needed? Would self-driving cars obviate the need for stop lights? http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/10/31/study-self-driving-cars-accidents/74946614/ "Even though they haven't been at fault, self-driving test cars are involved in crashes at five times the rate of conventional cars, a new study finds."
Norm48327 Ulrich In this day and age of smart technology are lineside signals still really needed? Would self-driving cars obviate the need for stop lights?
Ulrich In this day and age of smart technology are lineside signals still really needed?
Would self-driving cars obviate the need for stop lights?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/10/31/study-self-driving-cars-accidents/74946614/
"Even though they haven't been at fault, self-driving test cars are involved in crashes at five times the rate of conventional cars, a new study finds."
It's new technology.. give it time. Railroads weren't all that safe either 150 years ago.
Cab signals are not used on CN or CP in Canada. Most guys don't even know what they are. So, yes, they are of the utmost importance.
10000 feet and no dynamics? Today is going to be a good day ...
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
BaltACD blue streak 1 mudchicken Those lineside signals will always be a help....some of us still wish to heck the old motorcar indicators were still around. (there are plenty of buttonpushing morons out there that should be denied access to GIS and GPS because of the false sense of security created MC: Absolutely. What is worse are the manufacturers who foist these push buttons onto unsuspecting people. Think of Airbus that has built software that fly aircraft into peril that pilots cannot over ride. And pilots that have forgotten how to fly because all their recent flight hours are where the computer does the flying.
blue streak 1 mudchicken Those lineside signals will always be a help....some of us still wish to heck the old motorcar indicators were still around. (there are plenty of buttonpushing morons out there that should be denied access to GIS and GPS because of the false sense of security created MC: Absolutely. What is worse are the manufacturers who foist these push buttons onto unsuspecting people. Think of Airbus that has built software that fly aircraft into peril that pilots cannot over ride.
mudchicken Those lineside signals will always be a help....some of us still wish to heck the old motorcar indicators were still around. (there are plenty of buttonpushing morons out there that should be denied access to GIS and GPS because of the false sense of security created
Those lineside signals will always be a help....some of us still wish to heck the old motorcar indicators were still around.
(there are plenty of buttonpushing morons out there that should be denied access to GIS and GPS because of the false sense of security created
And pilots that have forgotten how to fly because all their recent flight hours are where the computer does the flying.
And it is still much safer to fly anywhere than it is to venture out in one's car..
Probably. Toyota is developing a system whereby cars "communicate" with each other and the roadway.. no conventional signals as we know them today would be required. But that's another story.. we're talking about railroad signals here.
UlrichIn this day and age of smart technology are lineside signals still really needed?
Norm
(there are plenty of buttonpushing morons out there that should be denied access to GIS and GPS because of the false sense of security created - many of those are the ones that think PTC implementation is so simple and have not a clue about the reliability issues that come with the beta versions of that black box technology that they have been hornswaggled into blindly believing is the neatest thing since sliced bread.)
In this day and age of smart technology are lineside signals still really needed? The same information could be sent to crews via much cheaper devices in the cab. Or is that not the case? Buying, installing, and maintaining all those signals must cost a mint.
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