NSB halts all trains due to fire in signaling system

NSB - the Norwegian State Railway company - somehow managed to run their signaling central without redundancy.

So - why care?

The signaling central is where all track signaling and train signaling is collected, analyzed and controlled. I.e. where the red and green lights are managed. You know, the lights that tell the train driver if he can move or halt his train. In order to avoid crashing.

So you would think that the signaling central is a key element to keep the trains running securely. You might even think that the signaling central is business critical. And I would agree fully.

But NSB do not agree. Or their security people lack fantasy enough to imagine the signaling central to fail. Or - the money people decided that the costs of setting up a redundant solution is way too high compared to the risk.

We will certainly know during the next few weeks.

Because last night, the main communication cable systems caught fire, and the signaling central lost communication. At the current moment, we do not know if this was an accident, or on purpose as in France. But there is no strikes going on here in Norway, so it might be accidentally.

The fire have caused all trains to a full stop, creating a chaos in the Oslo region. Still, the NSB representative do not think they need a redundant solution.

I am surprised. I would expect that a business critical system like this would have its backups, redundancy and contingency systems.  That it would not be possible for one small fire to shut down all operations of the company.

I mean, that is simply plain stupidity. 

What you can learn from this?

Accidents DO happen. Secure your business critical systems adequately.