• black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    20 hours ago

    Why does a railroad need drivers? I’d think it would be more about keeping an eye on the machines, especially at 330MPH

    • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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      13 hours ago

      As @myotheraccount mentioned, this is 330km/h, but yes, they still need drivers. On the high speed lines, the train can do quite a bit on its own, but you still need a driver to take care of the stops at stations, for non-high speed sections which generally don’t have the automation infrastructure, and for the case the something doesn’t work or go as intended.

      There’s not much of a need to “keep an eye on the machines”, they’re pretty sturdy, made to go at that speed and have gone through a number of tests to ensure everything works the way it should. Unless we’re doing a test run, but that’s another story.