[In any event, the US could not *maintain* safe high-velocity trains because of national inabilty to Read The Fucking Manual. RTFM failure nearly caused a catastrophe with Acela itself. From International Railway Journal, June 2005:]
Acela Express problems revealed
AMTRAK's Acela Express trains were far closer to a serious accident than Amtrak officials had originally believed, with many more cracks in their brake spokes, when all 20 trains were abruptly taken out of service on April 15, Mr Fred Weiderhold Jr, Amtrak's inspector general, told the Railroad Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on May 11.
Weiderhold, according to a report in the New York Times, also said for the first time that the company that manufactured most of the disk-and-spoke brake units had recommended their frequent inspection. But regular inspections were not made because those instructions were "lost in translation" between the brake company and the consortium that built the trains. The cracks were found almost by chance, by a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) inspector. ...
Mr William Crosbie, Amtrak's senior vice-president of operations, also testified. He said that the braking system was supplied by Knorr-Bremse, a subcontractor to the consortium. "The discs or rotors at issue were supplied by Knorr and SAB Wabco," he told the committee. ...
Instructions Omitted
According to Weiderhold, SAB Wabco passed the brake disks to Knorr-Bremse with a 66-page instruction book (2 700 S-N) that called for inspections every 20,000km. When the trains went into service, Knorr-Bremse produced a much shorter "service bulletin" that summarised maintenance procedures but omitted instructions for inspecting the spokes, which connect the disk to the hub. It said, without explanation, "for additional information, refer to SAB Wabco 2 700 S-N." Weiderhold said: "You can't give the guy on the shop floor all the technical manuals; the pile would be as tall as you or me." ...
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Carl
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