You may or may not have noticed a theme (one among many) throughout this work- how the innocent and young suffer under totalitarianism. There's the "Wet Nurse", Cheryl Taggart, the children on the train, and on and on.

Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am getting very tired of asking 'why'?

It never occurred to me that she thought anyone 'deserved' what happened. And, my thought on the survivor was, how fortunate for him! Happens.

A weird, weird day. Was offered a job for an obscene amount of money to talk people into taking the Covid jab and even more to teach "American Character and Culture" in Ho Chi Minh City. There were two words I actually wished to say to each offer but I limited myself to "No!" and hung up. Those with integrity and smarts will survive the Winston Tunnels in life. The corrupt and the stupid will work for the federal government.

Its a novel. It turns out the way she wanted it

I think you’ve summed it up. Take Eddie Willers for example. He was loyal and right thinking but in the end he suffered along with the statists because, like most of conservative America, he just wasn’t bright enough to recognize what was going on around him. And, take action to limit his exposure. (aka...he was kinda dumb.)
I’m sorry folks but A is A. Right, Left or Center

Well, I think there was one practical reason,as starguy and ohiocrossroads said. Somebody had to survive, so that Dagny could hear some details from the news report on the radio. But I think maybe there was a double reason. Ayn Rand narrated things to indicate that most of them deserved their fate (though I wouldn't think this could have included the children on board). The lawyer, who said he could get along under any system, the guy who asked why Rearden should be the only one allowed to make Rearden Metal,
the schoolteacher who had spent years ruining "class after class" of children, the "humanitarian who put "mercy to the needy" over justice, etc. But the fireman was good at his job, such as it was: "his husky muscles were his only asset." He "felt certain that his superiors knew what they
were doing"; he was dumb, but not dishonest; so I think maybe she intended his survival to be a sort of poetic justice.

👍🏻

Absolutely what Rand would have said!

That was always my impression from the first time I read it.

He did survive.

In the Book of Job, a series of disasters destroyed various things in Job's life. His sons and daughters were all killed by a tornado, for example. In each disaster, there was a single survivor, who informs Job of the tragedy: "And I alone survived, to tell you." Job gets to hear that phrase, a lot. Most likely, that was why Rand had the fireman survive the tunnel disaster: to tell the rest of us what happened.

Ask more questions in comment section.

My guess would be that he survived using his reason and logic from his training and experience.

Do I get to type only one question?