How many train derailments in 2023 ?

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Cold Smoke

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Ok I’m gonna sound like some sort of tin foil hat guy but it is what it is. I live a quarter mile from railroad tracks. It’s quite often a train stops on our crossing waiting to go into Claremore. Then you ain’t going nowhere for 15mins to 2hrs unless you want to go 2 miles cross country. I say that to qualify myself as an expert on trains. Lol. Anyhow, we have rarely and it seems very rarely seen black engines pulling trains through this area. About the only engines we’ve seen in the 9 years we’ve lived here were yellow and black BNSF engines. Well it seems that I recall the first two derailments I heard of this year had black engines pulling them (I can’t recall the logo on them at this moment). Maybe it’s coincidence or I’m a nut or just overthinking. But I promise these black engines ain’t been near as common until this year. No this ain’t a daggum racist black vs white comment! The color is a way to best describe the engines and what many of us that live along these tracks have noticed. It’s aliens driving them ain’t it!? Lmao. Just a weird coincidence I’m sure.
Those would be CSX, possibly KCS though they’re more regional. They all have agreements to use each others tracks. Each company has their own philosophy of maintaining class of track. I worked for the number two outfit in the country. The number one outfit generally operates condition scheduled blitzes to bring them to max standard and wears them down until the next round is required. We used to keep ours just above minimum perpetually. The old heads told us about how it was done before the merger when the bean counters decided they could run railroads too.

Between malice and idiocy I reckon you can brace up for more of the same. It’s not the dirty hands in the ballast that are the problem. Your time would be better spent working down from the other end.

I have worked several industries in diverse sectors that hold this country together. I can tell you for a fact that we’re just a gnat fart away from spending the rest of our days between Mad Max and Little House on the Prairie. I was always told to never attribute to malice what can be blamed on incompetence. When you have both in play it’s anyone’s guess. That first derailment on the crossing is just a seasonal perfect storm from watching the video. Hard to tell without getting your boots muddy. My crystal ball sees some overtime soon.
 

Cold Smoke

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While some of those numbers are fairly shocking, I have to wonder just how many of those derailments don't really do any harm at all. I've watched videos of railroad employees working to get a train car's wheels back up on the track.

In other words, how many of those derailments involve just one or two cars, and do they even do anything other than just go off the rails?
We have a winner! Every time wheels touch rock it’s a derailment. Most of them are in switch yard terminals where they build out consists to head in different directions. They used to show us videos from WW2 where the snoop and poop troops were learning to derail enemy trains. You have to remove an inordinate amount of rail in a curve to make it worth your while. There are ways but I ain’t teaching anyone how to do that. If the engineer and conductor have their poop in a group they won’t be surprised by much.
 

Roadrunner70

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While some of those numbers are fairly shocking, I have to wonder just how many of those derailments don't really do any harm at all. I've watched videos of railroad employees working to get a train car's wheels back up on the track.

In other words, how many of those derailments involve just one or two cars, and do they even do anything other than just go off the rails?
See attachment. Most do not cause any causalities.

We have a winner! Every time wheels touch rock it’s a derailment. Most of them are in switch yard terminals where they build out consists to head in different directions. They used to show us videos from WW2 where the snoop and poop troops were learning to derail enemy trains. You have to remove an inordinate amount of rail in a curve to make it worth your while. There are ways but I ain’t teaching anyone how to do that. If the engineer and conductor have their poop in a group they won’t

Not quite true. If a train has a collision with another train or vehicle and happens to derail as a result, it is not classified as a derailment. Same is true for any explosion or a highway-rail grade crossing that would cause it to derail. This is all categorized by the FRA.
I also don't believe when a train has slipped off the rail when at yard terminals counts either. I do know that derailments have to cost a minimum amount of damage to be classified as a derailment. A couple of wheels falling off at a rail switch is easily put back on the tracks and causes damage to the track or itself happens very very rarely. Only reason I know most of this is because I have family in the train business.
 

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Cold Smoke

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See attachment. Most do not cause any causalities.



Not quite true. If a train has a collision with another train or vehicle and happens to derail as a result, it is not classified as a derailment. Same is true for any explosion or a highway-rail grade crossing that would cause it to derail. This is all categorized by the FRA.
I also don't believe when a train has slipped off the rail when at yard terminals counts either. I do know that derailments have to cost a minimum amount of damage to be classified as a derailment. A couple of wheels falling off at a rail switch is easily put back on the tracks and causes damage to the track or itself happens very very rarely. Only reason I know most of this is because I have family in the train business.
Note the category filters in the right hand side of the screen. If it drops its dingus in the dirt it’s a derailment. Where it happens has different downstream effects and reporting, all to the FRA. If you have kin in the business ask them about the rule and compliance manuals they have to carry 24/7. They make the New York phone book look like a pocket novel. While you’re at it ask them about the Weed Weasels, just make sure you have a full cup of coffee. Even when you are off the clock, if you are driving on a road that handrails a track they expect you to give a cursory visual inspection of the track as you pass and notify dispatch of any potential risk of damage to assets or property. It’s quite literally a full time job.
 

Chuckie

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Ok I’m gonna sound like some sort of tin foil hat guy but it is what it is. I live a quarter mile from railroad tracks. It’s quite often a train stops on our crossing waiting to go into Claremore. Then you ain’t going nowhere for 15mins to 2hrs unless you want to go 2 miles cross country. I say that to qualify myself as an expert on trains. Lol. Anyhow, we have rarely and it seems very rarely seen black engines pulling trains through this area. About the only engines we’ve seen in the 9 years we’ve lived here were yellow and black BNSF engines. Well it seems that I recall the first two derailments I heard of this year had black engines pulling them (I can’t recall the logo on them at this moment). Maybe it’s coincidence or I’m a nut or just overthinking. But I promise these black engines ain’t been near as common until this year. No this ain’t a daggum racist black vs white comment! The color is a way to best describe the engines and what many of us that live along these tracks have noticed. It’s aliens driving them ain’t it!? Lmao. Just a weird coincidence I’m sure.
1678473282680.png


'This is how it's done. When people are sittin' on **** that you want, you make 'em beholding to you. Then you're justified in getting some of it.'

In the same vein, when a railroad corporations wants more government money, you just create more train accidents, then beg for more money to 'fix' the problems [that never go away] :mad:
 
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Cowcatcher

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View attachment 356249

'This is how it's done. When people are sittin' on **** that you want, you make 'em beholding to you. Then you're justified in getting some of it.'

In the same vein, when a railroad corporations wants more government money, you just create more train accidents, then beg for more money to 'fix' the problems [that never go away] :mad:
I’m gonna train one of those dragon birds just like them big blue folks do.
 

JEVapa

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Lol. now thats funny. Get real man. Unfortunately that is not the correct statistic. Either you genuinely don't know that your missing data on your selection process when doing that on their site or you are cherry picking data. I assume its the former. But anyway....Sorry but wrong. But turns out I too was wrong....but I was just low in my average. See below and attachment. Below is the REAL source.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (Which is the agency designed to investigate this sort of thing) records 54,539 train derailments between 1990 to 2021 in the U.S, an average of 1,704 per year
Not even once in the past 30 years has it ever been under 1000 per year. If you do just the past 20 years, its still over 1500 derailments per year. Since I was closer to the actual average....Check mate, I WIN

View attachment 355865



Site will not let me upload the actual Excel file I am afraid. So was forced to take a screenshot of it. Here's the link:
Ignore the graph and click the other tab on the Excel file for actual numbers as seen in the screenshot.
https://www.bts.gov/content/train-fatalities-injuries-and-accidents-type-accidenta

Yay! You're a winner! Like Bobby Bare

I really appreciate your willingness to condescend to give me the benefit of the doubt...your benevolence is magnanimous and your arrogance is boundless, lol. But you're still a winner

Ha, anyway, the data I showed is correct for the two values I set - Derailments and calendar years. Everything else is default. Not cherry picked, but I said I would look at the last 20 years and picked the last 20 years and the single type of accident - Derailments.

Going into the default values, the SMT groupings (Safety Management Teams) are default to: Unspecified, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, and CSX. That less than half of the SMTs. When you click all, you get 30,451 which averages to 1522 & change.

Now for real info that you can skew however you see fit in order to be a winner or not.

Of the 49 states (Hawaii doesn't have choo choo trains so they aren't even on the list), 7 have over 1000 derailments in 20 years. The other 42 states are under 1000 derailments in 20 years. Not under a thousand per year, under a thousand in 20 years.

The 7 offending states account for just >40% of all the derailments in the last twenty years. The others are just south of 60%...no polling or VA math. 7 states - 12,304 derailments 40.4%; 42 states - 18,147 derailments 59.6% (18148 when you run the table)
If you exclude the big 7, it's 907 avg per year (42 states). Maybe we should take away their choo choo trains coz they obviously can't handle them.

Now, your 1400# was just arbitrary and I don't think you had any real number. You even said so and surprised the sh*t out of yourself that the stats matched up or were greater than your number you plugged. 👍 You did win because you got the gooder guess so we can give you a pat on the back.

My lookup was for 20 years from 2022, not 31 years from 2021. It skews the data. It shows an average of ~200 less per year in the last 20 years than the additional 13ish years you added to skew the data to get you a more favorable number. Winner! 👏

But I don't think you were cherry picking, it was probably just a mistake not to compare the same timeframe.


You have to save the excel as a PDF...figured you knew that, everyone else does.
 

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  • Accidents by Cause & Type (State) Derail and cal YR only.pdf
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  • Accidents by Cause & Type (State) Derail, Cal YR, and all SMT.pdf
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  • Accidents by Cause & Type (State) Derail, Cal YR exclude the big 7.pdf
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