Another train derailment!

[Moab]

Does these just hapoen every week and we are just now hearing about them? Or is something else going on?


https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1633553809984172041?t=wSgrHS83_xajNCJ0cU-q6w&s=19

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if any of these derailments were caused by sabotage.

Though it's more likely a case of poorly maintained rail lines and not sabotage.

[EBuff75]

Usually they don't make the news, but on average we have several derailments every day here in the US.  It's just the latest craze for news reporting where we'll hear about them all the time for a bit and then they'll go back to being non-newsworthy again.  Unless the story is "exciting" (in the sense of "if it bleeds, it leads") of course.

[NT2C]

Does these just hapoen every week and we are just now hearing about them?

Derailments are a lot more common than you might think.  Usually, they aren't so spectacular though.  Right now, the media are poised to jump on any sort of train story, so you'll see more of them covered until something else becomes the big story.

[NT2C]

Usually they don't make the news, but on average we have several derailments every day here in the US.  It's just the latest craze for news reporting where we'll hear about them all the time for a bit and then they'll go back to being non-newsworthy again.  Unless the story is "exciting" (in the sense of "if it bleeds, it leads") of course.

Have you and I been hanging out together or something?   

[EBuff75]

Usually they don't make the news, but on average we have several derailments every day here in the US.  It's just the latest craze for news reporting where we'll hear about them all the time for a bit and then they'll go back to being non-newsworthy again.  Unless the story is "exciting" (in the sense of "if it bleeds, it leads") of course.

Have you and I been hanging out together or something? 

*peers suspiciously at the plethora of electronic devices in the room and then whispers*  "Is NT2C watching me?..." 

[Anianna]

When the media started harping on the derailments, I went in search of answers.  There's a lot of data on rail injuries and deaths, but I've had difficulty finding data specifically related to derailments.  The FRA focuses on injuries and deaths and divides types of incidents by state.  I don't see anywhere that it provides overall data for the entire country, so I did the math. 

The data by incident type provided by FRA covers 2018-2021.  For this four-year period, there were a total of 2,299 derailments in 43 states. 

There's a pretty significant disparity between states, as well, and I wonder if that is due to fewer miles of track and rail yard, stricter regulations, or both.  Or, maybe the issue lies with specific rail companies that operate primarily in those areas.  For example, Connecticut and Utah had only two derailments for that period while Texas had 188 and Georgia had 152. 

Do the states not listed not have rail at all?  I did expect not to see Alaska and Hawaii, but one of the states missing from the list is Nevada and I know they have rail (the others not included were Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).  For each state, incident types are omitted with zero occurrence.  Did Nevada just not have a single incident in all that time?  What's up in Nevada?

Notably, Utah not only had only two derailments in that period, but those derailments were the only incidents in that period and no injuries or deaths have been reported.  I wonder what's up in Utah.

https://railroads.dot.gov/accident-and-incident-reporting/train-accident-reports/train-accidents-type

[Moab]

When the media started harping on the derailments, I went in search of answers.  There's a lot of data on rail injuries and deaths, but I've had difficulty finding data specifically related to derailments.  The FRA focuses on injuries and deaths and divides types of incidents by state.  I don't see anywhere that it provides overall data for the entire country, so I did the math. 

The data by incident type provided by FRA covers 2018-2021.  For this four-year period, there were a total of 2,299 derailments in 43 states. 

There's a pretty significant disparity between states, as well, and I wonder if that is due to fewer miles of track and rail yard, stricter regulations, or both.  Or, maybe the issue lies with specific rail companies that operate primarily in those areas.  For example, Connecticut and Utah had only two derailments for that period while Texas had 188 and Georgia had 152. 

Do the states not listed not have rail at all?  I did expect not to see Alaska and Hawaii, but one of the states missing from the list is Nevada and I know they have rail (the others not included were Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).  For each state, incident types are omitted with zero occurrence.  Did Nevada just not have a single incident in all that time?  What's up in Nevada?

Notably, Utah not only had only two derailments in that period, but those derailments were the only incidents in that period and no injuries or deaths have been reported.  I wonder what's up in Utah.

https://railroads.dot.gov/accident-and-incident-reporting/train-accident-reports/train-accidents-type

This happened in a small town I grew up in as a kid. I remember it clearly. As it broke the windows in our neighbors house. We drove by it later that day. And there were HUGE chunks of metal everywhere. 

You can read about the final hearing. Where no one from the railroad, fbi or atf - had "any idea how it happened". (I wonder who influenced that lack of information?!) But there was some conflict about whether the car derailed or not.

https://www.historylink.org/File/8154

Great research you did. Credit to you! I wonder if Utah, as one of the first states to have rail in the west, has some states law about how rail is kept up? Or maybe they are mandated to not report certain things? I think they had the first major railroad junction on the Union Pacific railway. 

[flybynight]

All these derailments happened after a certain balloon from a certain country flew  from one end of the country to the other .
     Coincidence? 

[NT2C]

All these derailments happened after a certain balloon from a certain country flew  from one end of the country to the other .
     Coincidence?

And let's not forget all this recent UFO activity.

[Brekar]

Does these just hapoen every week and we are just now hearing about them?

Derailments are a lot more common than you might think.  Usually, they aren't so spectacular though.  Right now, the media are poised to jump on any sort of train story, so you'll see more of them covered until something else becomes the big story.

Pretty much this. 99% of derails happen in train yards, not on main lines, which is why you never really hear of them, because they don't really cause much damage. Since Christmas I can point to at least 10 derailments in the Kansas City area that have happened between the big 3 railroads. If the derailment is under a certain dollar amount (currently $11,500), pertaining to damages to equipment, rails, etc, then they don't have to report the derailment to the FRA. I've personally seen somewhere in the area of 25-30 derailments in person that were never reported because they were under the amount.

The good thing about that CSX train in the original post is that is was an empty coal train that only derailed because it hit a rockslide that was over the rails. It did leak diesel and oil into the river, but that's a much better containment option than cars full of burning vinyl chloride...

[Moab]

Does these just hapoen every week and we are just now hearing about them?

Derailments are a lot more common than you might think.  Usually, they aren't so spectacular though.  Right now, the media are poised to jump on any sort of train story, so you'll see more of them covered until something else becomes the big story.

Pretty much this. 99% of derails happen in train yards, not on main lines, which is why you never really hear of them, because they don't really cause much damage. Since Christmas I can point to at least 10 derailments in the Kansas City area that have happened between the big 3 railroads. If the derailment is under a certain dollar amount (currently $11,500), pertaining to damages to equipment, rails, etc, then they don't have to report the derailment to the FRA. I've personally seen somewhere in the area of 25-30 derailments in person that were never reported because they were under the amount.

This still doesn't sound like a good thing. Considering you can't predict when a car full of something flammable or toxic is one that rolls off the track.

I wonder who is responsible for the tracks? The railroad or the gov?

[Brekar]

You are correct, it is not a good thing. However; the railroads have pretty much ran self regulated regardless of what the government says. They pass regulations, the railroad gets waivers to not have to do whatever the regulations says. For instance, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) mandated the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems on Class I railroads' main lines over which five million or more gross tons of annual traffic and certain hazardous materials are transported. As soon as it was passed, all of the class I railroads applied for and got waivers that allowed them to not implement it for years, due to the hardship of "that will cost us a lot of money to install". It's just now, this year, fully implemented across the USA.

The same for the electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes that everyone is talking about because of the Palestine, Ohio, derailment. A ruling was put out to have those trains carrying crude oil and certain hazardous materials have the ECP brakes put on them in 2015. In 2016 the next guy put the brakes on that ruling and here we are.

One of the worse derailments I've seen happen in person involved a 3 car derailment that was full of Tesla Lithium Ion Batteries. Because it derailed under a bridge, and there was potential for an explosive fire, we were forced to evacuate for the next 8 hours, the city had to close the bridge, and it ended up costing the company something like 1.3 million dollars.

The railroad is responsible for maintaining and repairing the rails and any surfaces up to a foot past the end of the rails, although the railroads usually own up to 30-50 feet on either side of the rails.