Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
washingtonpost.com
Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
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Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#2Many are minor. Train cars can derail without even tipping over.
Source: I’ve helped clean up many derailments.
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#3Unfortunately this fact is buried half way into the article.
From personal experience in commuter rail, derailments happen more often than one would like, but most are not severe enough to attract attention.
A single axle off the rail counts as derailment, and may get reported as such for statistical purposes. This can happen frequently on a siding or in a storage yard. Where there's no significant damage, the car body is lifted, the trucks replaced on the track, and once it is all back together, inspected.
The FRA stats linked don't seem to break down derailment causes from what I can see. To be frank, while that number looks significant, when one considers how many miles of track there is in this country and how many miles the rolling stock travels (bad track is just as guilty as bad rolling stock), it could be far worse.
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#4Unfortunately this fact is buried half way into the article. From personal experience in commuter rail, derailments happen more often than one would like, but most are not severe enough to attract attention. A single axle off the rail counts as derailment, and may get reported as such for statistical purposes. This can happen frequently on a siding or in a storage yard. Where there's no significant damage, the car bo…
Yeah, usually when we think of "derailment" we think of a big accident that makes the news, not the technically accurate "one axle came off the track" definition, even if the latter may be something more important to look at in terms of preventing the big accidents that people are concerned about.
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#5is this an uptick in instances or simply heightened media awareness of it? Obviously any derailment is bad, but it would be useful to know where on trend this is, to know exactly how bad
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#6Translation: We're never going to address rail union safety concerns.
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#7Translation: We're never going to address rail union safety concerns.
Is that accurate? How many people are killed in the US every year by trains, versus (for example) Europe, which ought to have better unions? Should be higher in the US, I assume?
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#8Unfortunately this fact is buried half way into the article. From personal experience in commuter rail, derailments happen more often than one would like, but most are not severe enough to attract attention. A single axle off the rail counts as derailment, and may get reported as such for statistical purposes. This can happen frequently on a siding or in a storage yard. Where there's no significant damage, the car bo…
The table below the stats in the link you mention also seem to indicate that most incidents are in rail yards, though I am really not sure how to interpret that table.
Are there comparable stats for elsewhere in the world? Is 1000 derailments per year a lot?
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#9The US has expansive freight rail networks, but they are in poor repair as the operators, such as Norfolk Southern and CSX, cut costs even if it impacts safety. This has been a major complaint of rail works for decades, but little has been done.
There was a bill to help prevent just the type of accident that happened in Ohio by requiring electronically controlled brakes on cars carrying toxic / volatile chemicals, but it was repealed by the Trump administration.
Re: Train derailments occur roughly 1k times a year in the United States
#10The US has expansive freight rail networks, but they are in poor repair as the operators, such as Norfolk Southern and CSX, cut costs even if it impacts safety. This has been a major complaint of rail works for decades, but little has been done. There was a bill to help prevent just the type of accident that happened in Ohio by requiring electronically controlled brakes on cars carrying toxic / volatile chemicals, bu…
This was bearing failure, it had nothing to do with the brakes and Trump hasn't been in office for over 2 years.