Despite promises, not much progress with trains (Congress, lobbyists, March)

[Cida]

Remember all the headlines after the East Palestine derailment? As always, profit trumps safety, as lobbyists get in the way.


Since Ohio Train Derailment, Accidents Have Gone Up, Not Down
The total number of accidents for the top five freight railroads increased, and Congress still hasn’t passed legislation to prevent similar disasters.
In response to the accident, members of Congress in March introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at making railroads safer. But crucial parts of the legislation — including a requirement that railroads use more detectors to identify overheated wheel bearings — have faced resistance from rail lobbyists, who contend that they would inhibit the ability of railroads to introduce new practices and technologies to reduce accidents. The bill has yet to be put up for a full vote in the Senate.
“These figures show the railroad industry’s safety standards are getting worse,” said Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio and a co-sponsor of the bill. “We can reverse the trend by passing the Railway Safety Act immediately.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/since-ohi...170623466.html

[ukrkoz]

Ahem, and what did you expect?
Infrastructure money were sawed into pleasant personal pockets.
Expect more and worse as poorly or non at all maintained railroads, bridges, roads, crossings, tunnels, locomotives etc, will last only yey long.

[DannyHobkins]

When you get the government involved things always tend to get worse, not better.

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by DannyHobkins

When you get the government involved things always tend to get worse, not better.

Government has been involved in rails since around 1850.

What we really need are government agencies that will hold the rail companies accountable.

Tell the companies OK, you guys are free to fix it, any way you feel necessary, but if you have another East Palestine kind of "accident," (really, a disaster created by corporate negligence) we will take everything you have, and put your chief executives in prison.

And then, most importantly, follow through.

[RetireinPA]

wait what? we had similar disasters since? when?

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by TRex2

... but if you have another East Palestine kind of "accident," (really, a disaster created by {Mayor Pete and various EPAs who decided to light cargo that was not on fire, on fire}).....

fixed that for you

[BeerGeek40]

Originally Posted by TRex2

Government has been involved in rails since around 1850.

What we really need are government agencies that will hold the rail companies accountable.

Tell the companies OK, you guys are free to fix it, any way you feel necessary, but if you have another East Palestine kind of "accident," (really, a disaster created by corporate negligence) we will take everything you have, and put your chief executives in prison.

And then, most importantly, follow through.

That would make too much sense.

[DannyHobkins]

Originally Posted by TRex2

Government has been involved in rails since around 1850.

What we really need are government agencies that will hold the rail companies accountable.

Tell the companies OK, you guys are free to fix it, any way you feel necessary, but if you have another East Palestine kind of "accident," (really, a disaster created by corporate negligence) we will take everything you have, and put your chief executives in prison.

And then, most importantly, follow through.

The American people were not mad about the accident, the American people were MAD ABOUT THE GOVERNMENTS REPSONSE, or lack of response. Then lies told or no information about burning up all the vinyl chloride that effected 1/4 of the country. The Government lies about the safety of the area, literally zero response from the Biden Administration about what was one of the most hazardous accidents in American history. Finally, Trump made an appearance to East Palestine, which prompted finally a Government response a month later from Pete Buttigieg. Biden is finally making his way out there a year later.

[DRob4JC]

If you read through the article, there are attempts by the companies to try and make things safer. Maintaining profitability is an issue.

Jefferies said the railroads had taken several steps after the East Palestine accident to improve safety. Previously, the industry required that railroads stop and remove a rail car if a wheel bearing’s temperature hit 200 degrees Fahrenheit. In July, the association required that action at 170 degrees.

...
CSX, the third-largest railroad, reported a 31% increase in accidents in the 10-month period. Bryan Tucker, a spokesperson, said the company’s safety performance had been “challenged” by its hiring of many new employees after the pandemic, but last year it bolstered its training, and that contributed to a steep drop in accidents in the fourth quarter.

...
On its approach to East Palestine, the train that derailed did not pass an overheated-bearing detector for nearly 20 miles, suggesting that if there had been more detectors, with shorter distances between them, the problem might have been picked up earlier, perhaps averting the derailment.

Norfolk Southern added two detectors near East Palestine, resulting in an average of 11 miles between the detectors, said Connor Spielmaker, a spokesperson. Across the busiest parts of its network, Norfolk Southern has added 115 detectors since March, and with more additions it expects the average distance between detectors to fall to around 11 miles from 13.9 miles by the end of this year, he said.

So the government has done nothing, but the companies are at least making an effort to change - which in the long run is better than passing more laws.

[Wells5]

I blame the increase in rail accidents on something called "precision scheduled railroading," a concept attributed to the late E. Hunter Harrison.


Under PSR, the length of freight trains is greatly increased, sometimes miles in length. This decreases the operating ratio and increases efficiency.