alt Hacker NewsHow come we have collision avoidance mandated and working in 3 and 2 dimensions (TCAS, AEB), but somehow do not have it in 1-dimensional motion?
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This is exactly the thought I always have.
It seems impossible to imagine that there are any layers of defense in depth involved here… Because it should be so easy to avoid.
Because rail is quite non line of sight and quite infrastructure defined pathing.
The automatic coordination system hit a fail condition; they neglected the fallback protocols that had rules for spacing determined to work reliably without the computer keeping real time supervision; they crashed.
This is in the way more like the Washington D.C. helicopter plane mid-air where some normalization of deviance got people to ignore automated protection systems.
If most involved had known the fallback protocols they would have refused to move/continue while the protocols were utterly neglected. At least with a robust safety culture active, ofc.
There's not a sensor that can detect another train with enough warning to matter. Stopping takes miles, and turning isn't an option.