Originally Posted by
TheBOSman
I'm always concerned about media when they end up covering a subject I happen to have a significant depth and breadth of knowledge on, and I can see how far off they are. Then I get concerned about their accuracy on matters where my personal knowledge base is far shallower.
As I sent to a friend (and fellow FTer) who works for CBS News in NYC a few days ago on this exact subjecft:
If nothing else cures you of 100% trust in the media, it’s watching them report on a topic you actually know something about. 
(and I say that as a journalism major...)
Originally Posted by
Java Titan
I'm not professional in railway, but I know when upgrading a track, one of the most important thing is to increase radius for the curve so trains don't have to slow down so much. I can't believe after hundreds millions dollars upgrade project, there is still a curve with 30 miles speed limit. Drop speed from nearby 80 miles/hour to 30 miles/hour, I think that's a horrible design, a death trap on the track.
This addresses that assertion:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dea...ove-1513952658
If WSJ is putting up a paywall on that article, this one touches on the same topic:
https://nypost.com/2017/12/22/train-...-deadly-curve/
Originally Posted by
3Cforme
From that Seattle Times link: the older route where the trains will continue to run also does NOT have that train control technology. Emphasis mine.
Right, but it also doesn't have any 80mph stretches. Can they still speed? Sure. Could they hit an oncoming train? Possibly (but a yellow-followed-by-red signal is a little harder to miss than a small speed-restriction sign). But the chances of them accelerating to a speed where they can then hit a curve at 50mph over the rated speed and then topple off the track and a couple dozen feet down are pretty slim. The lack of PTC on the Point Defiance route is virtually a non-issue.