Freight Trains: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Cited as a solid overview of the railroad safety problem, including the push toward longer trains and single-person crews.
What it is
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on freight trains and railroads, covering how profit-driven practices undermine safety. It touches on longer trains and shrinking crews.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2023 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends hnlmorg · 2024-08 · on “Australian employees now have the right to ignore work emails, calls after hours”
Why do you find it so hard to believe that this isn’t just a result of greed? It’s not like those who are bleeding that infra dry are consumers of the service itself. And couple that with a complete lack of regulation, it means they can continue to bleed the service with literally no consequences for their actions. This show covers the railroad problem pretty well: [this video] …but I think it’s fair to say the rot introduced by profit at all costs goes waaaay beyond this specific infra. You could apply similar complaints for plenty of other industries too, such as Boeing.
Cites VikingCoder · 2023-12 · on “The NSA advises move to memory-safe languages”
I think you do not appreciate that some people have jobs that don't give them adequate support to be awesome. I just watched the most recent Last Week Tonight, where they went in depth on Freight Trains [1]. Specifically they talked about 3 mile long trains that currently only have two operators - one conductor and one engineer - and the industry is trying to cut it down to one. That's just an analogy for software development. But I've definitely seen people be over-worked and under-supported. [1]: [this video]
Cites ChrisMarshallNY · 2024-01 · on “Train robbery for Amazon packages? More common than you think”
John Oliver did a segment on trains[0]. He noted that rail companies are actively trying to lengthen trains, and reduce the staff to 1. [0] [this video]