• @XTornado@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    1410 months ago

    It helps that Spain has world-class trains

    As Spaniard I wouldn’t go that far… but yeah they are good. But not all of them 😅 specially the shorter routes. Apart from some maintenance issues, It doesn’t help that from time to time a line is down because they have stolen copper wires…

    • @GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      910 months ago

      One tragic fact of life is that it doesn’t really take that much to become world-class as far as trains go. The HSR network alone basically places you on the podium.

      • darreninthenet
        link
        fedilink
        210 months ago

        Depends on the age of your tracks, if you have old Victorian bridges etc or aging signal systems it can be very hard indeed.

        (London btw)

      • @wildcherry@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        210 months ago

        To be fair (and Im from a family of train workers, did my master thesis there), there is a lot of mismanagement and politics, lack of investment and stuff, which decrease the quality of train services. But there’s also part of the problems who are inherent to the fact of moving steel boxes safely on thousands of km, without endangering the workers either.

    • @lud@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      6
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      People steal the copper wires everywhere.

      I know someone that works in the rail industry with building and maintenance.

      It’s apparently very important to electrify the wire as soon as you are done with whatever you were doing. Otherwise someone will know that it’s not electrified and they will steal it. And the company/state will lose quite a lot of money in raw materials (the overhead wires are expensive as fuck), delays and further work.

      Edit: This isn’t in some third world country or anything either. This is in a rich first world country that’s in the top 10 in terms of HDI and at least top 20 of pretty much every other positive index.

        • Exocrinous
          link
          fedilink
          English
          310 months ago

          That’s called extrajudicial killing, and it’s generally frowned upon

        • @wildcherry@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          110 months ago

          Hey dude, my dad is working for the train system. Do you want to be the one cleaning human being parts? Not them.

        • @lud@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          110 months ago

          Because you would have to create some kind of surveillance team to find the thieves and it’s generally unethical to kill people. The electricity in those wires won’t just hurt, they will kill someone for just getting slightly too close.

    • @wildcherry@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      510 months ago

      I was once running to the station in sevilla to get my train. I arrived 40 minutes late. The train departed right after I boarded.

      Much love to the renfe, they waited for me :3