There have been a spate of deadly train derailments including two in the summer (one in Spain and one in Canada) most recently the Metro North one. Human error played a significant role in all of these. For instance, in the New York crash it appears that the driver alert mechanism was not installed in the front car. In Spain, the train driver was texting on his phone. In Canada the brakes had not been properly applied. This is particularly unfortunate at a time when the technology for reducin...

There have been a spate of deadly train derailments including two in the summer (one in Spain and one in Canada) most recently the Metro North one. Human error played a significant role in all of these. For instance, in the New York crash it appears that the driver alert mechanism was not installed in the front car. In Spain, the train driver was texting on his phone. In Canada the brakes had not been properly applied. This is particularly unfortunate at a time when the technology for reducin...