• skillissuer
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    1 year ago

    ancient, authenticationless emergency train stop system was used by russia supporters in malicious way. you can tell it by fragments of russian anthem and putin speeches transmitted after the stop signal on the same frequency

    it’s three tones at a specific VHF frequency, it’s supposed to be transmitted by train and any other train in range has to stop automatically and immediately, but it’s close to 2m band so any baofeng can be used to transmit there

    it’s been a known issue for years and polish railways is migrating to GSM based, authenticated system, expected to be completed in two years. they also have legendary delays in introducing new infrastructure so ymmv

    there’s no material damage, in fact it’s a part of a system designed for limiting material damage, but some trains have to be stopped in addition to those stopped automatically, mass confusion results and delays are introduced both for freight and passenger trains

    • skillissuer
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      1 year ago

      polish railways have issues with tech debt unseen anywhere else. besides outdated rolling stock, there were two mainframes of 1974 vintage (Odra 1305, ICL 1905 clone) up and running up to 2010 doing something at province-level stations. these things went straight to museum, and still work

      things got better considerably, but priority goes to things that are visible