Freight Trains: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
LastWeekTonight1 HN recommenders · 2023–2024
7M views · commentary · dated · Uploaded 2023-12-11
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on freight trains and railroads, covering how profit-driven practices undermine safety. It touches on longer trains and shrinking crews.
Cited as a solid overview of the railroad safety problem, including the push toward longer trains and single-person crews.
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3 comments from Hacker News
I think you do not appreciate that some people have jobs that don't give them adequate support to be awesome. I just watched the most recent Last Week Tonight, where they went in depth on Freight Trains [1]. Specifically they talked about 3 mile long trains that currently only have two operators - one conductor and one engineer - and the industry is trying to cut it down to one. That's just an analogy for software development. But I've definitely seen people be over-worked and under-supported. [1]: [VIDEO]
John Oliver did a segment on trains[0]. He noted that rail companies are actively trying to lengthen trains, and reduce the staff to 1. [0] [VIDEO]
Why do you find it so hard to believe that this isn’t just a result of greed? It’s not like those who are bleeding that infra dry are consumers of the service itself. And couple that with a complete lack of regulation, it means they can continue to bleed the service with literally no consequences for their actions. This show covers the railroad problem pretty well: [VIDEO] …but I think it’s fair to say the rot introduced by profit at all costs goes waaaay beyond this specific infra. You could apply similar complaints for plenty of other industries too, such as Boeing.