Airline pilots and train conductors are basically meat proxies 95% of the time and they are still employed. Still necessary for when things really go wrong.
There are still some things in an airplane that an autopilot cannot do. There is nothing on a train in normal operation (as opposed to maintenance) that a computer cannot do - as evidenced by multiple trains around the world running without humans operators since the 1990s!
Or if we replace that well-compensated train conductor with automation I sure hope it's high quality stuff and not lowest-bidder slop.
It's going to make passengers' lives better by making their train rides more affordable, allowing them to improve their lives by leveraging those funds.
Or, it's going to make shareholders' lives better by increasing their profits.
Either way, some people will benefit from it. The question is -- what is the real, practical tradeoff, and is the tradeoff worth it to the participants in the system.
What, you don't want to save a few bucks on a train ticket? Come on, you'll love it!
I want automate trains because they would make running trains more often possible
There are no other jobs on the island that pay decently. Cutting edge engineering work will make you half of what it will in either the DC or Boston areas.
The conductors are highly paid in part because it's the local custom, and part because a third of the economy would collapse if that train stops running.
It would be better for society to pay these people to do nothing while we run more trains automatically.
All US passenger rail runs off of massive state subsidies. The absurd pay is the taxpayers money.
Meanwhile Boeing did enough stock buybacks from 2014 to 2019 to give every single boeing employee $200k... and when the 737 max crashes happened, the stock crashed back to pre buyback levels. THAT is truly sending money to the void to be lit on fire, money that could of been used to change the lives of thousands of employees and factory workers.