Exactly what I expected ODOT to come up with.
This is how things work 95% of the time.
One government agency covers for the other government agency.
And in a state where cronyism is so strong like Oregon, you really didn't expect ODOT to issue any sort of criticism to Trimet did you!
Government agencies are staffed by each other. There is an 'inbreeding' that occurs in government jobs. All these bureaucrats move around between agencies. They are basically all 'related"to each other.
When was the last time you saw a government agency actually criticize another government agency.
It's a very rare event.
Additionally ATU was locked out of the inspection, only Trimet management was allowed to participate.
Evidence of collusion in my opinion.
And Trimet also had time to get its house in order.
The day the pictures went public I was told by a current operator that there was an unusual amount of work crews working on the rails.
So all in all, completely predictable report.
Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers - TriMet: No safety concerns with rail tracks
Oregon rail inspectors find no problems with MAX tracks, despite union's claims | OregonLive.com
ODOT inspection report (PDF)
ODOT: No safety problems found with TriMet rail tracks - Koinlocal6.com
4 comments:
1) ODOT's budget is much bigger -
ODOT Budget: $2.5B
TriMet Budget: $1.1B
2) I don't see why ODOT would cover up for TriMet.
3) Government entities often criticize each other - look no further than Clackamas County, or the riff with the City of Portland over the youth pass.
That said, it was interesting to read in the report that the cracked rail had been repaired within the last 2 weeks.
Overall it wasn't that ODOT didn't find any problems -- they did find problems, but they were considered to not be big enough to pose a significant safety risk.
Or if you believe the union, where's the high profile accident due to poor maintenance? It will take something like that in order to prove the union's point.
I'm interested in hearing the ATU's response.
It appears I was wrong about the budget would like a link to ODOT's budget but everything else I said stands.
Furthermore, given the extent of the lies and distortions coming from Trimet ATU has carte blanche in that regards.
Ya look at Clackams county Max, it has NEVER EVER happened before!
These are politicians in Clackamas battling career technocrats.
Career technocrats on the other hand finding fault with other career technocrats is very very rare
Regarding ODOT's budget check:
Oregon Department of Transportation Publications
Oregon Department of Transportation Transportation Funding
Why no union representation, such as a maintenance personel that see the rails on a daily basis, and why the company had rep along with them? See the point, one can point out "any" problems with the system and one is a pencil pusher, that had "complete" access to the process.
HB
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