Gert's party - 10 cm of snow

[Peter Korsten]

Op 4-2-2012 14:40, Joost Schuttelaar schreef:

> F#ck, NS again totally screwed up. Practically no trains running. What happens in the nordic countries when it snows? Now can't make it to Gert's. Total infrastructure failure.

The issue is that you can be pretty sure that it'll snow easily three 
months every year in the Nordic countries. So they would be prepared, 
just like about the only airport not to shut down last year during all 
those snowstorms was in Finland or thereabouts. If you get snow a couple 
of days a year, it's not worth the investment to try to deal with it at 
all times.

Another thing is that the Netherlands have pretty much the busiest 
railway system of Europe. In other words, there's very little 
resilience. If one train breaks down, it spreads all over the system.

HOWEVER:

Today's trains are far more complex in terms of electronics and software 
than the older ones. As a result, they're not that reliable when the 
weather turns a bit sour. Short time-to-market and the resulting bugs in 
the software don't help either.

Also, excessive regulation means that the transport company (NS, the 
'former' state railway company) is not responsible for the 
infrastructure, and in fact is not allowed to do anything about it. No, 
if there's a problem with a switch (point), you need Prorail, who get 
stuck in traffic jams, because the snow doesn't just fall on the railway 
tracks.

In Switzerland, for example, train drivers have a broom, with a piece of 
metal on the top. If there's a problem with a switch, the driver stops 
before the switch, swipes it with the broom, takes off any ice with the 
metal bit, and continues.

It's all very avoidable, but the Dutch government, in all its wisdom, 
decided to follow the British example (contrary to the German and French 
governments, with the result that DB and SNCF are now major transport 
companies) in the name of increased efficiency.

Well, judge for yourselves.

- Peter