"I will say it again. The god of cheap is the wrong god to worship."

[cali]

The news that the runaway train of Lac-Mégantic was staffed by one engineer is stunning to us, but an old story to the creakingly untended ill-regarded North American rail industry.

The Ballad of the Lone Engineer? Downbound Train? The song writes itself. Yes, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway had but one man in charge of a train full of crude oil from North Dakota, a train that had run through Toronto, a man who parked the train when his shift ended and went off to sleep in a hotel. That’s the trouble with a staff of one. At some point they need to rest their heads on a pillow.

At this point I’m wondering why he didn’t sleep on a berth the way long-distance truckers do. But this misses the main point, which is that in Canada, as much as the U.S., we worship the god of cheap. A staff of one is dirt cheap.

We want cheap oil, we won’t pay higher taxes for government regulation, we fear the loss of our own jobs, we trade ready cash for safety, and what it all boils down to is an engineer climbing down alone from a train of thin-skinned tankers holding oil that was salvation for a company desperate for freight after the economic collapse reduced demand for the lumber it usually hauled.

<snip>

I will say it again. The god of cheap is the wrong god to worship.

<snip>

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/07/10/lacmgantic_train_crash_proves_engineers_shouldnt_work_alone_mallick.html

this is a great piece. I absolutely recommend reading the whole thing.

[cali]

1. kick