### Reader’s Letter to The Guardian, 8th September 2024 ###
Dear Editor,
A recent item in Germany’s “Tagesschau” (mainstream news, link below) reminded me of John Naughton’s article on delivery drones, “technological determinism” and our acquiescence to “new” (The Observer, 10th August 2024, link below) …
It looks like German Railways (DB) have decided to reverse plans to digitalise their points and track and instead return to the electric/mechanical technology of the 1990s. I could have cheered because it seems to me that that the more “new technology” we have, the more complication, breakdowns and expense we have.
A case in point is the ICE high-speed service here in Germany which is very flash but has eye-wateringly expensive ticket-prices and is prone to breakdown. Additionally, it has been operating for about thirty years so now key lines need to be closed down for repair and to replace the track.
There has indeed been a severe under-investment in recent years but the key factor in the need to close down lines is the fact that, in order to accommodate “high-speed”, switchover-points had to be removed. This means that now, for repairs, instead of simply flipping trains onto the other track for a few kilometres, you need to close down stretches of up to one hundred kilometres. In both directions!
For me this is a clear example of a case where we should have stuck with “tried and tested”: Classic trains (modern ones) are only marginally slower than “high-speed” but are cheaper and much more reliable. So it looks like we have happily paid shed-loads of money to “unfix” a running system.
Bravo to John Naughton for highlighting that “new” is not always better and not always desirable.
PS: And why digitalise, when we know there are risks of hacking and of “total failure” as was the case with Windows a few weeks ago!
Yours,
Alan Mitcham
Link to Tagesschau Report: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/regional/badenwuerttemberg/bahn-digitalisierung-stellwerke-100.html
Link to John Naughton’s article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/10/inevitability-myth-tech-determinists-google-wing-delivery-drone
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