You're FIRED!

Rich,

I ride Metro North all the time.

Or  .  .  .

I used to.

Wow . . . that is shocking.

Even worse than Scrapiron's exploits.

At least I was paying atttention.

Eliot

Wow that's horrible, he could hurt and kill so many people like that

I hope he was fired.

Thanks, Alex

Toss him.

Even I know enough to keep eyes on road.

Rich you cannot fire him because your first name is not Donald.....

What was this guy thinking?

PTC cannot prevent stupid!

THERE ARE CAMERAS EVERYWHERE! Just when you think it's safe to do something crazy or outlandish, an hour later it's running bigger than life across the screens in Times Square.

That's a scary thing there....wow...

On tonites NY TV news, they showed the engineers response- taping papers to the inside of the interior cab windows to prevent passengers from looking in.

Awww. Taping paper, that is childish,...

Actually I am kind of surprised there are windows there in the first place.  Now to tape paper up on the inside?...

All the more reason why this guy should be unemployed. 

He needs a serious attitude adjustment.

Guess this guy can see via a VISOR that Mr. LaForge used of STAR TREK: TNG

Maybe he wants to be a member of the Darwin Soc.!

So the operator is reading a paper and nothing happens. Elliot pays attention and the 765 almost meets its demise.

I have an idea, next time give Elliot some paper and crayons and everything will be just fine

Here in CA, the Metrolink trains have inward facing cameras recording audio and video. This was put in place shortly after the Catsworth crash. It's only a matter of time before we have the same setup on our freight trains too. The thing is, just like this case NY, the cameras don't stop it from happening, they just show what was going on in the cab prior to the event, whatever it maybe.   

With the broad brush of the media, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch as now this gives the John Q Public the impression nobody is minding the store when this is such an outrageously extreme and rare example of irresponsibility, considering all the hundreds of commuter runs that occur daily. The safety record of all commuter lines speaks for itself. That seems to get lost in the mix and all perspective flies out the window. The engineer should be prosecuted for endangering public safety etc. Getting canned should be the least of the consequences.

People rely on technology too much instead of doing their jobs or using common sense.

Rich,

I just wanted to introduce you to the new FRA inspector for this line.

George

A certain engineer with an extreme attraction to the Nickel Plate told me of an engineer back in the steam days who used to sleep while running! He'd nod off after a while, waking up to blow for crossings and adjust as needed. Even while firing! Nod off and adjust the stoker motor or water pump as needed.

This bozo would probably promote the engineer because of his "multi-tasking" abilities...

Rusty

I have an idea, next time give Elliot some paper and crayons and everything will be just fine

Until some wise guy just out of camera range starts tearing small pieces of paper, spells l****p, holds it up, and gets everyone thrown out of the cab, probably forever.

There is absolutely no excuse for that behavior.  Eyes on the road, pay attention, etc etc.  Yet for what its worth, how many of us drive the same monotonous road morning/night and once in great rare while suddenly realize you don't remember driving the route to your destination. ie zombie state?  Engineer has probably piloted this NEC train "a million" times and knows every hill and sag, curve and signal post blindfolded (ie when to throttle up/down, brake reduction/release) so it becomes a boring soul deadening trip. Again, absolutely no excuse whatever for this idiot, especially with so many lives and umpteen tons of machiney.

There was an accident somewhere in California because a clown was texting and driving a commuter train, ran the signal and killed about 24 people & himself in the train he rear-ended.

Maybe it is time to watch the conductors more often or put in some kind of device to monitor the engineer.

There is NO excuse for negligence like that.

Lee F.

Personally, it drives me crazy when job postings make note that they are looking for some stellar, outstanding, upstanding, spiffy Joe who can multitask in 40 directions. Of course, there is also the 'boss' who rates our performance (read $$$) based on the the number of spinning plates we can keep on the sticks at one time!

Meanwhile, study after study after study has shown that multitasking is completely inefficient - and in some cases - actually dangerous.

Still - we continue to get the 'programming' that multitasking is a valuable and highly sought after skill. Now add in the car manufacturers and the insurance company ratings on how wonderfully "safe" our car's on these days....and we have the proverbial recipe for a disaster.

Ah yes...comfortably numb.

Have to agree with you, Mark.  Computers multi-task fairly well (after a fashion).  Humans do not (by comparison).

And while posting the photo of The Donald was meant to be funny (IMO), I consider him a complete waste of human flesh.  I've seen his handiwork up close and personal.  In fact, he's a complete train wreck all by himself.

George

Computers do not multi task. They do one job at a time. They swap jobs faster than you can detect. Note: dual processor computers are two computers and they can do two jobs at once. Most computers do the main job and when there is spare processor time. the other jobs are done in the background.

Yes, I know.  That's why I said "after a fashion".  I wasn't going to start a discussion of swapping vs paging, context switching, examine the complexities of virtual memory, or hold forth on disk latency or the types of cache memory and the methods of refreshing it. 

George

Well, it was a HEAD-ON crash with a U.P. freight train.  Twenty-five people (total) killed and 135 injured.  "Clown" is a NICE term to describe the PoS engineer who was showing off.  Lee is correct:  "NO excuse".

No way, the union would never let that happen.  I'll bet he gets a slap on the wrist and it's business as usual.

Shades of Ricky Lee Gates ... is he still in the Big House for the Gun Pow wreck?  Watching TV and smoking pot ... this idiot is right up there with Ricky with his newspaper reading.

 Driving at least 125 miles per day when working I saw somebody doing this on the freeway several times in 30 years. I gave them a wide berth and hoped for a cop.

 Ron

I agree with you Rich, I hope he get fired. SHAME ON HIM.

The only union job I had, the union would make sure the paperwork was filed correctly and help the guy out the door.  Guess things are different in yours.

One solution would be to redo the controls and the seats so they have to basically stand-up at all times and pay attention to the trip. If they were sitting in a seat that was high off the floor like a bicycle seat there would be no leaning back.

The cabin is set up so they are lounging, then they get complacient and bored.

Covering the windows will not solve "the problem" of people watching and recording them lounging.

Andrew

You haven't kept up.   My wife worked for years for county government, and it was almost impossible to fire someone, no matter what the reason.

That's exactly what happened to Virginian 2-10-10-2 800 on an eastbound coal train out of Roanoke in April 1939.  The engineer was a known snoozer; he liked to "enjoy the fleshpots of Roanoke" and get his rest on the way home to Victoria.  The problem that day was that he had a new fireman and a stopped-up hose strainer.  The engineer woke up near Stewartsville, looked at the water glass, saw no water, pulled on the injector, and St. Peter welcomed him, the fireman and the brakeman.

The operator at JK Tower, a friend of mine, was the last one to see the crew alive.  He handed up the orders to the brakeman in the gangway; he said the engineer already had his head down and eyes closed.  He already had the 800 throttle and reverse lever set, and that was all he needed (he didn't have any block signals or road crossings to bother him).  He thought.

EdKing

AND the official word from Metro North on this is?

Wasn't there a relatively recent DC Metro or MARC train crash involving fatalities and operator error?

I have kept up, and am still aware of what goes on.  No changes really.  Maybe things are different back in your part of the country.