On the other hand, I don't want to sound insensitive, but trainwrecks (and airplane crashes and shipwrecks) don't just have a number of killed effect, but a money effect too - and even if more lives could be saved with that money elsewhere, it is often the case that the disaster costs much more than the safety measure that fell victim to some cost-saving measure. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
the disaster costs much more than the safety measure that fell victim to some cost-saving measure
And to clarify, one of the reasons for the inner/damper/outer wheel design is to dampen vibration, not for "ride quality" but to keep vibration from causing a structural failure of the wheel. This wheel design has also grounded the Acela trains here in the US, finding the right damper material is a challenge.
It may have been for the sake of the wheel on other vehicles (tough I never heard of this - and a two-part wheel seems more prone to failure to vibration even on a tramway to me), but not the ICE.
The German Railways in fact first tried to run ICEs without any form of dampening, but the result was the infamous "Dröhnen" (carbody vibrations so strong it can be heard), and a rather unsteady run of the biggest car, the restaurant car.
I don't remember the use of such wheels in the Acela, I have to look it up. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
All of those I mentioned were necessary, and at some stage foreseen. The technical people did see their necessity in advance.
A similar issue is that of tunnels and tunnel fires. I predict right now that there will be a catastrophic tunnel fire in some European rail tunnel opened in the last 10 years, in which the investigation will find that escape shafts were placed too infrequently. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
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