>>1945392NTA but if I may put words into his mouth, it seems to me like the underlying message here
>>1944686 is that American trains are operated mostly privately and for industrial purposes. As such it is of greater interest to the rail operator to disregard the other party regarding locomotive design in the colission so that there may be less damage and downtime to the locomotive. This is because American rail acts solely in it's own interest, as a private business, while fully utilizing it's "blessings" of the government which would rid them of guilt in case of a train-car collision.
While in contrast European rail, being government run or at least heavily regulated and subsidized, acts almost symbiotically with the rest of society.
European rail behaves not in the benefit of itself, but the benefit of a wider system that it is a part of, being itself a part of the transportation and urban infrastructure system, which itself is one of the systems of society at large.
This may reflect in the way European railways designs its' locomotives and crossings, simultaneously having to weigh the value of saved lives with crumple zones and advanced crossings against the expenditures of more expensive infrastructure and more downtime in case of collisions.
This government philosophy, that systems are intertwined and dependent on one another and as such should be designed to maximize overall benefit, is in stark contrast to the American philosophy which puts heavy emphasis on personal responsibility and atomization of interests. There is no public interest in American philosophy.
Americans tend to outright say this, that Europeans are simply more civilized and organized to maximize public good, without *outright* saying it or even trying to say it in a way to mean the opposite.
