[extrapickles]

They don’t need to even do that, just occasionally send the train past a thermal camera and look for wheels that are warmer than average.

[benburwell]

In general, this is actually done: there are defect detectors that are installed along tracks that monitor for several conditions as trains pass over/through them. Once the train has passed, a voice radio message is sent to the train crew.

Here's an example of one working: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7BGg82uQ1U

I'm not sure whether similar equipment was a factor in the East Palestine incident.

[JustSomeNobody]

It is very odd to me that states do this very thing for trucking, but apparently do not do it for rail.

[falcolas]

They did. It was ignored. IIRC, the exact wording from dispatch was "If it's still alerting at the next sensor it's a problem."

[muttled]

I'm astonished that they treat those alarms like I treated the check-engine light as a poor kid who reasoned that the car seems to still be running fine.

[JustSomeNobody]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Symbiote]

Here's a page on several of the automatic checks that exist for railways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defect_detector