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Comment by 1718627440 | Hacker News Reader

The were several other train accidents, where it was found out, that the drivers have made races, who can stay above the speed limit longer. But I think that was already in the 90s. There is/was definitely something at fault with the safety culture.

But there was a recent incident in Germany as well (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgrain_train_derailment), which is somewhat similar to the earlier accident in Spain this year. Targeting high value projects, while not paying for proper maintenance is not something that only happens in a single country.

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There were two fatal train accidents in the UK this year, one of them being a rear-end collision, despite no one even citing them in this thread, and definitely not claiming the UK having low safety culture. Sadly the Spanish "black legend" is still very much in force, portraying Spain as some lower place than it actually is.

Yes, you can say that high-speed rail crashes are not limited to one country (though Spain has had multiple this year alone), but you can't say that it has ever happened in Japan. So for you to argue up and down this thread that everyone calling out issues with Spanish high speed rail safety is wrong, as if it is some sort of intractable problem, is bananas.

I have not stated anything that is specific to Spain in this thread? I do think there is something wrong with the safety culture in Spain, I mean obviously, there was an accident.

> but you can't say that it has ever happened in Japan.

That sounds very unlikely to me, and in fact Wikipedia indicates otherwise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigaraki_train_disaster

That is not a high-speed rail line... so, no?

Ok, so railway safety for me doesn't stop at the end of high-speed lines. But, maybe Japan does indeed clear the measure you suggested, so congratulations to Japan, I guess?

Yup, so it seems that high-speed rail safety is not an unsolved problem. Wonder what the lessons are? Hmm...

"Sadly" anything involving safety with humans is never a solved problem, because safety culture needs continuing training and effort.

> I said nothing about "throwing up out hands", this is a current research topic. But you can hardly blame the workers for not using a system, the researchers haven't invented yet.

This you? Who's fault is it then? You said the tech doesn't exist (lets take that at face-value for the sake of your argument), so then if not tech, then what? You're just left with people. So are you saying it is their fault or not? Or is it just nobody's?

Yes. General safety culture. However asking who is at fault instead of asking how to prevent it from occurring again, is also an indication of a lack of safety culture.

In addition: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50297950 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293093

You can do both

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