First, a note on bridge transit . . .
No Public Inspections for Our Rail Bridges
The old Broadway Bridge, built in 1956 when Dwight Eisenhower was president, is "structurally deficient," according to publicly available reports, and needs critical repairs. But right next to it stands a much older bridge for which detailed public records are not available.
However, here's a bit of KICK-ASS TKC TIPSTERS REASSURANCE from our blog community about this topic . . .
"I work for a railroad and have crossed these bridges, and others across town, several times over the years. While yes, they are all over 100 years old, they are also built like a brick shit house. The highline (elevated tracks) that come from the west towards union station had one of it's supports damaged about 2 years ago when another train below derailed, and a toppled rail car bent one of the metal support beams. Most rail incidents in KC aren't public unless they involve some dummy getting themselves or vehicle hit by a train."
Developing . . .
I'm not 100% but I'm fairly certain, even though they were initially build with public investment, or fully by the government, that all commercially used rail is nowadays private property. While there is some justification that potential failure of that property could injure members of the public, there really isn't much precedent for the government inspecting non-public infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteThe reason they don't want to inspect it is because they would find a body every time -- and that's a lot of paperwork.
ReplyDelete