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[quote user="episette"] Bucyrus.  I assume by your previous reply that I referenced that you have studied engineering.   Improving safety is always a very noble goal and it should be a priority but you can go too far when you try to predict every possible accident and build the machine in question to be safe in all situations. That obviously can be done with sufficient money and demand, but you also risk the situation of the old joke that a camel is a horse built by a committee. Strengthening the corner posts and such is the obvious start, but do GE/EMD and their customers want to go so far  that they build a bunker on the front of a locomotive and what are the consequences of doing so? If a bridge collapses do you then try to build a cab that would protect against that scenario, or do you choose to build and maintain the bridges in your trackage?   I assume that AAR regs require a fire extinguisher on board in the crew compartment at all times but have they ever considered a plumbed in system like planes and other vehicles are required to have?   I hate to say it because it seems so callous but have  the AAR ever investigated how safe it is to jump from a moving locomotive in a situation of imminent impact and tried to develop ways to make that scenario safer when everything fails and the crew must get away or face certain death?  There is an inherent risk to every action and you can only physically protect people from the most obvious risks before you decrease the efficiency of the device. These are the times when an engineering solution might not be the most effective so you must look at other parts of the operation for the proper solution. A railroads employees are its most important asset and they must feel safe and be protected while performing their task, but adding physical protection isn't always the best way to achieve that goal.   I hope that I have not offended anyone with my reply and If I have I would like to apologize now for that action because it definitely wasn't my intent to do so. <div style="clear:both;"></div> [/quote] I might not have made it clear in what I posted in that older thread linked to a post on the previous page, but I completely agree with all your points in your above post.  When it sounded like I was making a case for crashworthy locomotive cabs, I was only describing how attractive that case would look to the people who lobby regulatory agencies of government to pass laws in their interest.  They will use the crash in Iowa to force more safety onto the railroads, but I am not saying that more crashworthiness is needed.   <o:p></o:p> I did describe how it could be accomplished, but the cost would be enormous.  I think it could add $250,000 to the cost of a locomotive depending on how far it went.  But that won’t discourage the people who have the power to force safety improvements whether they are worthwhile or not.  Those people are always looking for new things to regulate; more things for government to do.  It usually starts with activist think tanks that come out with a study.  Lobbyists take the study and lobby congress, and a new regulation is born. There are groups advocating airbags on the front of locomotives to protect pedestrians.  <o:p></o:p> Having said that, I also agree with some of Paul North’s points about unavoidable collisions and impacts justifying some level of crash protection.  I am not familiar with the motivations behind the current state of locomotive cab crash protection.  I don’t know where the idea came from or who asked for it.  But I wonder if NS might be making the rest of the industry nervous by getting out front on their own accord, and ending up raising the bar on mandatory crash protection for the whole industry.  <o:p></o:p> I think I will do a little research to learn more about this trend in locomotive crash protection.  I am surprised that NS has not explained the mechanical objective of their new cab.
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