Broken or defective railroads are one of the most common causes of derailments, according to the FRA. Faulty or missing crossties — beams perpendicular to rails — triggered 5.6% of the derailments in 2022, making it the single largest cause of derailments. Excessive speed, track obstructions like snow, ice or mud, and faulty switch points — sections of the track where trains change direction — were some of the other leading causes of derailment in 2022. Derailments have decreased substantially over the past five decades. Annual derailments are down from 6,328 in 1975, the first year the Bureau of Transportation Statistics began reporting such data.
Wow! Over 6,000 in 75. I admit, I didn't realize that derailments were that common. That is terrible news. Even with the 'improved' statistics down to 1,000, that's still nearly 3 per day. Far too many. Perhaps this is a mode of transportation that we need to examine more carefully and either revamp entirely, or replace. The cost of human life, not to mention the cost of dealing with the derailment, the damaged cargo, and in some instances, the issue of toxins being released makes me wonder if it's even worth continuing. Not without better measures in place, anyway. Thanks for the info.
If we think about our own experiences as a kids living around trains, those number of derailments start to appear more realistic. As kids we'd walk down the tracks and find all sorts of things.... everything from glass power line insulators to railroad spikes. My friend's mom use to made candle holders out of those old glass insulators. I remember setting pennies on the railroad track before a train would go by. We were amazed at how flat, squished and faceless the penny became. We use to set rocks on the tracks... not big ones but ones from the gravel laid down around the railroad ties. They always seem to fall off due to the vibration before the train got there. I remember seeing the train engineer sounding the horn when the train approached us.
We'd find all sorts of things..... People seemed to dispose of their appliances and garbage around railroad tracks. I recall seeing washing machines and bags of lawn clippings and tree branches. Yep, Along those tracks, it seemed to be a dumping ground for all sorts of things. There was always signs of booze and broken bottles, spray paint cans, and even paint cans.
If you think about it, kids will do all sorts of stupid shit for kicks. How hard would it be to set a large object on the tracks to derail it? Then you have Antifa and radical environmental groups. Just add it all up and it starts to paint a picture. I bet most derailments happen in the big cities.
Good observation. All the more reason to have some safety checks in place. I don't know much about how things are checked, I saw someone say that the flames from the burning car would have / should have set off some existing warning, but didn't. I just have never looked into this and don't know what safeguards are in place, or are being ignored.
Here's an article on the number of derailments per year reported by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). In 2022, there were 1,044 instances of trains coming off their tracks.
I thought this part was interesting.
Wow! Over 6,000 in 75. I admit, I didn't realize that derailments were that common. That is terrible news. Even with the 'improved' statistics down to 1,000, that's still nearly 3 per day. Far too many. Perhaps this is a mode of transportation that we need to examine more carefully and either revamp entirely, or replace. The cost of human life, not to mention the cost of dealing with the derailment, the damaged cargo, and in some instances, the issue of toxins being released makes me wonder if it's even worth continuing. Not without better measures in place, anyway. Thanks for the info.
If we think about our own experiences as a kids living around trains, those number of derailments start to appear more realistic. As kids we'd walk down the tracks and find all sorts of things.... everything from glass power line insulators to railroad spikes. My friend's mom use to made candle holders out of those old glass insulators. I remember setting pennies on the railroad track before a train would go by. We were amazed at how flat, squished and faceless the penny became. We use to set rocks on the tracks... not big ones but ones from the gravel laid down around the railroad ties. They always seem to fall off due to the vibration before the train got there. I remember seeing the train engineer sounding the horn when the train approached us.
We'd find all sorts of things..... People seemed to dispose of their appliances and garbage around railroad tracks. I recall seeing washing machines and bags of lawn clippings and tree branches. Yep, Along those tracks, it seemed to be a dumping ground for all sorts of things. There was always signs of booze and broken bottles, spray paint cans, and even paint cans.
If you think about it, kids will do all sorts of stupid shit for kicks. How hard would it be to set a large object on the tracks to derail it? Then you have Antifa and radical environmental groups. Just add it all up and it starts to paint a picture. I bet most derailments happen in the big cities.
Good observation. All the more reason to have some safety checks in place. I don't know much about how things are checked, I saw someone say that the flames from the burning car would have / should have set off some existing warning, but didn't. I just have never looked into this and don't know what safeguards are in place, or are being ignored.