2023-09-06 22:09:08
We remember trains that arrived late more often than those that arrived on time. Like all of us, I probably tend to exaggerate my personal statistic, but I think I can safely say that 20% of my trips experienced noticeable delays.
Our country, a pioneer of the rail network and high speed, sees this historical advantage canceled out by the number of strikes by railway workers. Nevertheless, I do not count these social movements in my grievances of delay, because they have a form of nobility which prohibits me from including them in my grumpy statistics. Moreover, they are not evaluated in hours, but in days, weeks, even months. They are therefore out of category.
During my last trip by TGV, a dead man found on the track required an on-site investigation which blocked traffic for 5 hours. Last year, it was a suicide that caused a similar delay. A few years earlier, it was a boar who had crossed the fences of the way without any preconceived idea of suicide. A friend has just had the same adventure with a deer. However, it would be petty to accuse the SNCF of involuntary ecocide. And since it is a question of ecology, let us note that extremist ecologists regularly sabotage catenaries to protest against a new line or to claim one in a railway desert. Environmentalists also like to block stations, which they willingly share with right-wing extremists and strikers with no railway affinity. The jihadists instead attack travelers and are the cause of memorable delays.
Let’s come to medicine and health, my favorite subjects. In total, my relatives experienced five major delays for the medical evacuation of three embolisms and two strokes that occurred on their train. Psychiatry does not spare our railway networks, since three of my friends had to deal with psychotics in a delirious phase who had activated the alarm signal
Recently, a locomotive was blocked in Gare de Lyon, because a pregnant cat had taken refuge under it. Members of the SPA demanded its gentle evacuation. Sweetness that required two hours of feline diplomacy.
As for the meteorological phenomena that regularly disrupt the rail network, it is difficult to designate those responsible. One could reproach the SNCF for not being far-sighted enough, but one would also have to accuse all of humanity, which is partly responsible for these extreme climatic events. Decidedly, many extremisms, negligence and ideologies converge on our trains.
My remarks hide quite badly the annoyance of a traveling citizen. I must therefore add a philosophical question: from what level of psychosocial complexity is it no longer necessary or profitable to invest in technological progress?
I invite you to think about it during your next hours of waiting on a blocked train…
Reference
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