It seems to me that on board sensors would be a good idea to identify problems early on. Sensors that continuously monitor and report data to both the crew and to management, augmented by wayside detectors. Crews can’t see what’s going on 8000 ft behind them unless things have already gone terribly wrong. Maybe further along the sensors can feed a computer that does some quick math to establish maximium safe brake pressure given train length, speed, and location in the network. Until then, let the sensors alert the crew, and let their expertise determine how to safely bring the train to a stop. Locomotives have sensors galore… that same level of technology needs to be applied to the rolling stock.
Who will maintain the sensors? What will be the Inspection cycle for the sensors? 92 day inspection cycle like it is for locomotives? 5 years like it is for Air Brake Valves? Somewhere in between? Will sensor inspection require the equipment be taken out of service for the inspection? What happens when a sensor fails while moving in a train? Contine? Set the car out?
What make you so sure the price would go up? Why would anyone buy it if there was no payback. The paybak should save money that would be otherwise spent on picking up train wrecks and paying the damage claims, settling law suits, etc.
It’s an idea, not a PhD thesis, and we’re just talking here. Obviously there would be costs involved, and an inspection cycle and maintenance schedule would need to be developed.
No, the cost of the sensors would be offset by fewer accidents and addressing wear issues before they become catastrophic. And…complaining isn’t really my thing.
That is the old saying: “If it were a good idea someone would have already invented it.”
Obviously that cannot possibly true. Think about it. If it were true, nothing good would have ever been invented because it all was a bad idea. It had to have been a bad idea because it had never been invented.
And there are excellent new breakthrough ideas and inventions coming forward all the time. The potential for improvement is infinite. There is a constant flow of good and bad invention concepts coming forward. In a lot of cases, when condtions align to make a useful new idea possible, many people see the idea and turn it into the same invention at the same time.
Another issue to be considered is how well will these sensors hold up in a railroad environment. I would think that they would have to be at least as robust as an EOT device.
If railroads want to continue operating, they need to pay. You seem to be afraid of any costs that hurt the profits, as much as you claim to hate PSR, bean counters and Wall Street. Choose
If corporate types won’t take steps to modernize and operate safely, then your hated government will have to take over.
As a personal matter I AM not afraid of costs. I AM not the CEO of any Class 1’s or any Rail Leasing Companies. They are the ones that will have to deal with the costs going forward.
The Carriers and the Leasors are the ones that have to make decisions about how they will go about moving forward.