The heat-dissipating steam spurted out from the chimney, making a long sound, and then the train started slowly. The heavy and Sturdiness wheels turned little by little, and the chirping sound continued to sound with a specific rhythm, and then became faster and faster.
The train, like a steel fortress, drove out of the tall station building, with continuous whistles and roars, and rushed towards the distant wilderness, moving forward without any headway.
The scenery outside the window changes, and the white curtain flutters, brushing against Sylutia's ears from time to time. She is leaning on the back of the chair, flipping through the booklet in her hand, which details the responsibilities of the Inspection Department and her rights and mission as Inquisitor.
This carriage was very quiet. The seats around her were all empty. On the seats in the other half of the carriage, there were members wearing dark blue uniforms. They were all equipped with swords and had capable figures. They were the Inspection Department elites who accompanied Sylutia to Hallet District this time. Each of them was above level four and well-equipped.
Although they were a little surprised by the airborne team leader Inquisitor, under the influence of good discipline, these elites quickly adapted to the situation at hand, and information about the new team leader was quickly learned by the entire team members.
Hedra, fourth level·Secret Speech, the third-year chief from the Thetis Academy, advanced to Astronomical Clock Page", once in the Western Mountains has experienced and performed amazingly, with excellent talent and strength. Although he has never worked at the Inspection Department, he was an intern at the Finance Department in the past six months, which is related to this investigation task.
Under these conditions, everyone reluctantly accepted her identity. If it were another student of the Academy, or a young team leader with insufficient strength, they would not be so obedient.
Different from the relatively peaceful environment of the Finance Department, the work of the Inspection Department is very challenging. The ability of the team leader will be tested in various tasks and environments. Once there is any shortcoming, it will be exposed very quickly. On weekdays, these highly conflicting and challenging tasks make the members of the department unconsciously focus on merit.
If you can carry out the work with thunderous means and execute it well, you will quickly establish prestige. However, if you are not strong enough and still sit in a certain position, you will soon be disliked and ostracized by the entire department, making it difficult to carry out your work.
Although Hedra has been temporarily recognized by these people, she only has one chance. If her performance is not enough to conquer these department elites during the next journey, she will soon lose her prestige and find it difficult to mobilize these personnel.
Sylutia, who was sitting in her seat, flipped through the booklet in her hand and sighed at the specialness of this job. She also realized that this would be a huge challenge. If she did well, she would be recognized by many Mage Alliance's senior leaders. If she did a terrible job, she would probably be excluded from the senior management of the Mage Alliance and become some kind of marginal figure in the future.
She can practice and study normally, but if she becomes a marginal figure, she will not have the chance to step into the real core of the Mage Alliance and understand the secrets and intentions of this huge organization. This is precisely the purpose of her coming to the Mage Alliance.
The girl rubbed her brows, put down the booklet, then took out a pair of glasses and put them on, covering up her original soft temperament. The reflection of the lenses and the dark blue Inquisitor uniform made her temperament become more capable and sharp.
A few hours later, a large building appeared in front of the train. Although it was not as tall as the modern city in Sylutia's memory, the giant towers that popped up from time to time were still eye-catching.
The train entered Hallet District, then slowly slowed down, the harsh braking sound brought bursts of sparks, and finally stopped completely.
After the train entered the station, the local officials who had been waiting for a long time came forward and then focused their eyes on the door.
The thick armored iron door slowly opened, and the air flow blew away the diffuse steam, revealing a group of people walking down.
Sylutia Recalling the serious and sharp people he had seen in his past and present lives, his movements lost a bit of the usual lightness and agility of girls, and his behavior gradually became calmer.
Seeing this Inquisitor wearing Inspection Department windbreaker walking down, her long black hair flowing gently, her eyes covered by glasses, and her expression couldn't be clearly seen, everyone's expressions became respectful.
The welcoming ceremony was kept simple at the request of Sylutia, and then the motorcade drove into the residence that Hallet District had already arranged.
In the next few days, Sylutia led people to accept all the information and files on the train derailment case six months ago, and then began to verify the process and select and question relevant personnel.
The track passing through Hallet District is one of the nine largest tracks in the Mage Alliance. It was built sixteen years ago. Many of the people who handled it at that time have been promoted to senior executives of the Mage Alliance, or have retired.
Whether the cause of the accident was the failure to meet the required specifications during the initial construction, or whether the track was corroded and aged due to poor subsequent maintenance, is an important disagreement in this case.
The train derailed, resulting in the death of about 300 people and the injury of more than 1,000 people. Although this death data is not a big deal in the current world, it was a major blow to the Mage Alliance internally, causing many wealthy people to worry about the safety of the train and use airships to travel long distances.
For the huge group that relies on train tracks, this is a matter of great influence, because since the rail trains were first put into operation more than a hundred years ago, there have been many debates within the Mage Alliance, probably because the laying and construction of train tracks, as well as later maintenance, require the Alliance a large amount of capital budget and investment, and it is difficult to recover the capital in the long term.
That is to say, in recent years, as Mage Alliance has developed many industries and the demand for freight volume has increased, some of the costs have been gradually recovered, and the voice of criticism has gradually become smaller. However, many people still object to the high maintenance and operating costs of trains, believing that Orbital System has raised too much waste and rice bugs that consume the Alliance resources.
After this incident, the issue of Orbital System was mentioned again. In the upper-level meeting of the Alliance, many factions joined in the condemnation, demanding strict investigation, reduction of the number of orbital operations, and the layoff of a large number of redundant personnel.
In order to prove its own value, the group relying on the train track must prove the value of Orbital System, and also clear away the current negative public opinion. Otherwise, budget cuts and staff layoffs are inevitable, but if you think about it, you will know how difficult it is, and there are still some conflicts between the two.
Inspection Department had also sent people to investigate before, but they encountered various obstacles on the way, and even the train could not enter Hallet District. It was also after half a year of quarrels in the parliament that Orbital Group had to compromise in the face of increasing pressure. This led to the investigation led by Sylutia.
Things are a little complicated.
After collecting the information, although the truth has not been revealed, many details and fragments have been able to slowly outline the truth.
It can be said that this accident occurred due to a combination of various reasons. First of all, during the track laying process, according to regulations, additional foundation reinforcement was required in some areas with poor environments, but the Hallet District section was not reinforced as required at that time.
Secondly, after several years of operation, some sections have gradually sunk, causing track deformation. However, this process proceeds very slowly, with only a little difference every year. Even if some personnel find out, thinking that there will be no problems in operation for several years, do they have to report it today?
Once it is reported, it will involve problems from the original construction and previous oversights. In order to maintain the surface of peace and order and save costs, the people responsible for the maintenance of this section have been suppressing the matter.
To reveal the truth at this time is probably to trace the existing maintenance personnel and the personnel department that was originally built, but new problems were encountered in the process.
According to the original construction drawings, Hallet District did not require the reinforcement of the foundation, and the original budget was only enough for construction, which was very reluctant. The construction team also completed the work according to the drawings, expressing their ignorance.
Continuing to investigate, it was discovered that when the geology was first explored, the surveyors had already reported the local conditions and that the foundation needed to be reinforced. However, when applying for a budget, Finance Department complained that the expenditure for this area was too high. In order to obtain the budget as soon as possible and to benefit from the economic benefits brought by the track construction, local officials deleted the geological issues in this section, believing that even without additional reinforcement of the foundation, the problem would not be serious.
Finally, the proposal for track construction in this area was approved, funding was obtained, and construction began.
It stands to reason that the original group of local officials were the culprits, but for more than ten years since the track has been in operation, no one really discovered the problem, or did they choose to conceal it even if it was discovered, because once the track is stopped and repaired, it will not only consume a lot of financial resources, but also suspend the local economy. In addition, uncovering the problem will inevitably lead to upward investigation, and personnel from previous generations will be involved.
The combination of many factors led to the final accident.
After getting the result, Sylutia looked through the long list in his hand. This was the list of local officials, Orbital System maintenance personnel, and exploration and surveying leaders in the past who were involved in the case.
Each of them only made a few small mistakes, but these mistakes converged and eventually led to the collapse of the entire situation. What is even more frightening is another point, that is, even if there are obvious problems in the system, everyone selectively ignores them in order to not affect their own situation.
If you ignore the problem, you only need to bear a small part of the responsibility, but once it is exposed, you will face a storm in the entire system.
"Sir, the information and list have been sorted out." A Inspection Department member wearing a dark blue uniform came to Sylutia.
"Okay, put it down." Sylutia nodded.
The truth is now clear, but how should we report it in the future? Inquisitor, which she hosts, currently has a lot of autonomy, and during this period, she has also received signals from many people, hoping that she can avoid the important and take the easy.
Fortunately, she is different from other Inquisitors in the Inspection Department. She currently has no family members in the Mage Alliance, and no relatives, friends or teachers who can be blackmailed. It is even difficult to coerce her with matters concerning her future, which makes the quarrelsome forces outside somewhat unable to deal with her Inquisitor.
Now everyone is waiting for her to finish writing the first draft of the report, or to rule on the nature of the entire incident and report it to Alliance Council.
So, how to summarize the report----
Sylutia looked at the blank page in front of her and thought. She could have made no judgment and just presented the complicated original picture of the incident, waiting for the outcome of the quarrel on Alliance Council.
Of course, she can also make a certain summary, clarify the really important reasons behind the accident in the report, and express a certain biased decision.
The former would be very safe and would not seem to offend anyone, but it would also disappoint all parties. The whitewash that Orbital System hoped for did not come true, and the opposition group's goal of cracking down on Orbital Group to reduce expenses was not immediately realized. Even the Academy director who asked her to investigate the case would be disappointed because she chose to give in, did not dare to really take responsibility, and was unable to express her own judgment and opinions.
Is this a test for myself? Sylutia thought to himself.
But what she couldn't figure out was why she was chosen to face such a major test. Although she was very talented, there were not many geniuses in the Mage Alliance. For example, her previous roommate Aurora was actually a very powerful genius. It was just because she changed the path she had learned in the past that she lost some time.
The former fifth-grade chief Nores was also a very powerful person. Now he is Fifth Order, and the other person is not more than thirty years old. He can be said to be the top class of people.
Unable to figure out this problem, Sylutia put it aside for the time being and turned his attention to the current problem again, that is, how to report it.
Those who deserve to be arrested must be arrested, and those who deserve to be punished must be punished. How to solve the systemic problem that caused this unexpected incident?
She is currently just a small Inspection Department Inquisitor, and she certainly cannot change the organizational system problems of the entire Mage Alliance. Such problems are almost common in large organizations. On the contrary, independent small organizations like Woodland Alliance are unlikely to encounter such problems.
In large organizations, the power of individuals will become relatively small, and there are also various locked rules and regulations. While clarifying responsibilities, it also makes everyone who tries to break the chain of silence pay a high price.
Under the classical national and organizational framework, every small lord or leader is fully responsible. He decides his own gains and losses, and will not involve others. However, this is not the case for individuals in large organizations. The establishment of various process rules has improved the clarity of organizational operations, but there will also be an imbalance of rights and responsibilities.
That is, people who have great responsibility do not have great power.
At this time, in order to complete the work at hand or avoid causing conflicts, we can only take risks and continue. Once the problems of the entire system are revealed, as a relatively small individual, it will be difficult to bear the backlash.
Sylutia was thinking and writing in the report, narrating the causes of the entire accident and organizing and summarizing it. She did not just state the punishment, but explained the systemic problems caused by the incident and made suggestions.
----Although this type of problems will still occur in various places, in order to reduce the occurrence of such incidents, it is necessary to establish some additional reporting mechanisms to avoid the risks faced by individuals disclosing system problems."
"Secondly, if the officials who manage the local Orbital System enjoy great power, they should also bear great responsibility, so that they can urge the other party to solve possible hidden dangers instead of continuing to suppress the problem."
"It is unwise to let middle- and lower-level personnel assume all responsibilities, because this exceeds the limit they can bear, and will also lead to blame-shifting and abandonment by superiors----"
After writing the report, Sylutia packaged it, and then led the team members back on the train.