From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   Glen Labah  wrote:   
      
   >About two years ago I attended a SoundTransit meeting where the expense   
   >of track inspection came up, and one of the contractors said the   
   >cheapest way of doing the regular track inspection was, rather than have   
   >a special track inspection car, to simply put the required equipment on   
   >some of the cars already operating in regular service.  They said they   
   >were already doing this on a few other commuter railroads.   
      
   You can install some equipment to find some defects, but you can't   
   install all the equipment found on a track geometry car and still have   
   much capacity left in your passenger coach. Aren't the guys inspecting   
   tracks from hy-railers still going to have to ride along with the   
   equipment anyway?   
      
   Seems to me tha there won't be a labor savings, then, just saving an   
   extra track slot that you'd have to give the hy-rail vehicle.   
      
   Can they "hear" the track condition from inside a passenger coach as   
   they can in a hy-rail? If they find something suspicious, are they going   
   to be able to halt the passenger train? Will the train have to run at   
   slower than timetable speed while testing is underway?   
      
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