January 19, 2010
It seems we all understand the need to leave a little bit of extra time when we are traveling. Whether by car (gotta hope the traffic is light), train (hopefully they are running close to schedule) or even airplane (crap, gotta get through the airport), we understand delay may be inevitable. It seems reasonable, we are human traveling with other humans in machines humans built. Errors and delays will always creep in.
It seems in this country, the mode of public transport commonly used is the rail system. Oh, it is a joy to behold, riding in comfort across the miles without the cramped space of an airline seat. No other drivers the road to bother you. Oh, what a joy.
I have since discovered what should be a crowning jewel in the English transportation system has a few minor flaws. All right, they might be considered minor to people from modern countries in say Botswana or Outer Mongolia.
The British and French have the ability to construct a tunnel under the English Channel linking their two countries. Years of planning, years of construction and I can even remember when the symbolic joining of the tunnels. Flash photography, lots of smiling individuals. It is great as they run the high speed trains through the Chunnel, London to Paris as quick as you like.
Ooops, this year shortly before Christmas, they ran into a minor snag. After ten plus years, first one then several trains broke down in the tunnel. People are told to stay on the trains for their own safety. Five hours later, they are still sitting under the Channel in trains that don't work. Eventually the train are pulled from under the Channel and the passengers are freed. Of course, all other scheduled services are stopped indefinitely until they can find out what has cause this mass problem. Massive pile ups of traffic and passengers at the various stations. Oh well, the people who were trapped on the trains were given a refund, another ticket and a hundred pounds in compensation.
What evil mastermind is behind the stopping of the entire Eurostar and Euro Tunnel services? It must have been some great and dastardly deed perpetrated by the enemy of humanity! After several days, Eurostar announced they had discovered the problem. It seems the trains designed to run above the ground from London until Dover, then dip under the channel until they reach Calais and reemerge onto the surface on their way to Paris were undone by "fluffy snow." Apparently they have never encountered or dreamed of the situation where the "evil fluffy snow" could get into the electrical system and short out the entire train. Actually multiple trains were brought to their knees and trapped. It took several days before the engineers could patch the trains enough to ensure the "dastardly, evil fluffy snow" could not cripple them again.
Thankfully, I flew to Warsaw for Christmas, but that is another story.
0 comments:
Post a Comment