Comment by electroweak
15 hours ago
I think aircraft are so safe in this regard because, essentially, they are required to use a single international collision avoidance system that is well defined. And modern cars have AEB systems built by vendors aiming for commonality to meet worldwide rules.
But train traffic systems seem to be a hodgepodge of different systems, perhaps locally grown and driven by the local vagaries of politics and rulemaking.
What a surprising inversion of expectations regarding safety.
TCAS has its own flaws, especially around take-off and landing where it's completely disabled. Which is exactly where it matters most.
The newest signaling systems, ETCS and related sibling CTCS, are quite standardized and interoperable across international borders, so this is an area the EU especially has been making big strides on.