by amm in ny
amtrakowitz wrote:I'm assuming that "unprecedented" refers to the flooding.ccutler wrote:The issue is not the understandable devastation of the physical infrastructure. The issue is the lack of a disaster recovery facility for the dispatchers, computers and communications infrastructure that is storm-protected and on high ground. Many other trains are ready to run but for the lack of ability to dispatch them. Having dispatching located near a swampy estuary is asking for trouble"Unprecedented"? Armchair quarterbacking in the face of such an event = Fail.
"Unprecedented" does not mean unforseeable. You don't have to be a climate scientist to see that low-lying coastal areas are subject to flooding, and the existence of storm surges has been known for centuries. However, decisions like where to put a ROC are made based on groupthink, and current Western groupthink assumes that weather (and other natural processes) are negligible details that don't require us to change how we do things. (The same thought processes lead to people building tons of million-dollar developments on sand dunes by the sea and then being shocked! shocked! when the sea rolls over the dunes and washes their investments away. Dude: how do you think the sand got there? But I digress.)
In any case, severe flooding due to high ocean levels can no longer be dismissed as "unprecedented," so one would hope that NJT would put onto its to-do list moving the ROC and any other essential facilities to locations less vulnerable to storm, flood, and other disasters. Also, providing alternate equipment storage sites on higher ground to which rolling stock can be moved if high water is anticipated (as it was for this storm.)