London trains see power cut as thousands stranded in dark for hours • Hacker News Board

Re: London trains see power cut as thousands stranded in dark for hours

#91

Post by MichaelZuo » Sat, Dec 09, 2023, 1:44 AM UTC

uxp8u61q wrote: post #84

MichaelZuo wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, £10B looks like a big number, but what do you compare it to? Other large cities with comparable transport infrastructure? You, or any passing reader, can just spend 30 seconds with a search engine and find dozens of papers, reports, presentations, etc... doing this kind of financial comparison.

Do you not understand rhetorical questions? I know what the budget should be compared to.

Then why submit a reply that adds nothing to the conversation?

You might as well submit replies saying that rivers flow downhill instead of uphill.

Re: London trains see power cut as thousands stranded in dark for hours

#92

Post by lm28469 » Sat, Dec 09, 2023, 1:45 AM UTC

paganel wrote: post #82

lm28469 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you created a petition to mandate gas powered elevators. I personally had a single blackout in my 30 years on this planet, I think that's a fair price to pay for 24/7 light/heating/water/&c.

It’s a tragedy that industrial policies as important as these are pushed worldwide by people as cushioned as your example is, and, yes, that is part of the madness I was writing about.

The great tragedy of ... electricity ? Tell me more

Re: London trains see power cut as thousands stranded in dark for hours

#93

Post by midasuni » Sat, Dec 09, 2023, 10:33 AM UTC

mnd999 wrote: post #80

taway_6PplYu5 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, because what if one of those people is touching the power rail? What do we know about the demographics of the people walking? How do we know they all made it out, or is someone lying down somewhere on the track?

There's no power rail. It's overhead power - that was the problem. According to the union a manager providing strike cover was responsible for damaging the overhead lines - https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/gwr-train-cables-p...

That seems slanderous by the Union. They are suggesting that (likely a senior instructor) caused the collision and one of their members would have avoided it.

Re: London trains see power cut as thousands stranded in dark for hours

#94

Post by midasuni » Sat, Dec 09, 2023, 10:37 AM UTC

ryanjshaw wrote: post #39

vkou wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't tell at the 10 minute mark whether or not power will be back in 10 more minutes, or in 3 hours.

But you can tell when 3 hours have passed and decide upfront - as a matter of policy - where to draw a line.

And where would you draw the line?

Re: London trains see power cut as thousands stranded in dark for hours

#95

Post by YawningAngel » Sat, Dec 09, 2023, 12:38 PM UTC

martinald wrote: post #65

YawningAngel wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in a similar situation on a London train (different line) this month. The problem is that the operators genuinely do not know how long things are going to take. I agree that the TTR is obviously unacceptable, but the whole service is run on a shoestring budget and is constantly cancelled or late, so there isn't really the capital available to do better.

What are you talking about with "shoestring budget?". Over £2bn was spent on electrifying the GWML, nearly £20bn spent on the Elizabeth line (which included further upgrades on the GWML), and completely new trains on nearly every service were bought (at extreme cost). There must have been >£5bn spent on this line in the last decade. Per mile, it is probably one of the best funded lines in the world. GWML is having co…

From my perspective as a passenger, trains constantly being delayed or cancelled due to problems with the track suggests the track is not being adequately maintained. It could be the case that there is sufficient money available and it is being poorly spent. I am not inclined to think this because there is a general trend of chronically underfunding public services, but I don't have specific knowledge about national rail.

Incidentally, I don't think NR is free to set its own pay scales, so it may well be the case that the money wastage you describe is mandated by the same government that funds it.