And people think flying is dangerous.....

[Keith Lane]

This in my daily e-mail from Railway Age Magazine®.

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news/rail-fatalities-up-9.7-through-september.html

Rail fatalities up 9.7% through September Tuesday, November 30, 2010
In this year's first nine months, 797 large and small U.S. railroads reported 587 fatalities, up 9.7% from the same period in 2009.
Trespassing deaths increased 10.5% to 359 and grade-crossing fatalities were up 3.1% to 1,468.
Employee fatalities increased 38.5% to 18. There were 13 employee fatalities the 2009 period, 20 in 2008, and 10 in 2007.
Total accidents-incidents in this year’s January-September period were almost unchanged from last year—8,427 vs. 8,451.
Train accidents were down 3.0% to 1,398, collisions dropped 4.8% to 99; and yard accidents decreased 2.2% to 758.

BTW, "Trespassers" in railroad speak means any non-employee on walking railroad property.
The saddest one, the grade crossing number, is particularly sobering.
Folks, I know you know this, but, please, please, please look out and don't get hit by a train. Although it would increase my job security, I have drawers and drawers of pictures of dead people and mangled vehicles enough to last a lifetime.

 

[N801BH]

This strikes me as idiots who won the Darwin award. It's not like the trains swerve into the other lane and hit them <G>. What I find interesting in your post is the railyard accidents. 758, down 2.2 % ? that makes it two major screw ups by railroad employees per day. Seems your industry has it's share of dumb people too. IMHO.

Ben.

 

[Keith Lane]

This strikes me as idiots who won the Darwin award. It's not like the trains swerve into the other lane and hit them <G>. What I find interesting in your post is the railyard accidents. 758, down 2.2 % ? that makes it two major screw ups by railroad employees per day. Seems your industry has it's share of dumb people too. IMHO.

Ben.

A yard accident, reportable one that is involves damages in excess of $9000. In the railroad world, it don't take much of an accident to do that much damage. Also, although there are a lot of "screw ups", many accidents are the result of broken rails or switches, defective car components, signal malfunctions etc. All "reportable" accidents are "closed out" by investigators as to cause, and those causes are coded with an alphanumeric cause code. These statistics are available from the FRA, the railroad equivalent of the FAA.
http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/

 

[weilke]

This in my daily e-mail from Railway Age Magazine®.

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news/rail-fatalities-up-9.7-through-september.html

BTW, "Trespassers" in railroad speak means any non-employee on walking railroad property.
The saddest one, the grade crossing number, is particularly sobering.
Folks, I know you know this, but, please, please, please look out and don't get hit by a train. Although it would increase my job security, I have drawers and drawers of pictures of dead people and mangled vehicles enough to last a lifetime.

Are the individuals who kill themselves intentionally by walking or lying down on a track counted in the 'accident' figures ?

 

[Keith Lane]

Are the individuals who kill themselves intentionally by walking or lying down on a track counted in the 'accident' figures ?

Yup.
Not too many of those as a percentage, really. They just make more of a headline.

 

[Matthew]

Even Larry the Cable guy got into the act. "How not to get hit by a train" - he took one step sideways.

We have a lot of train crossings in our town, and they are busy. We don't have too many accidents, but they still happen. I think we have a greater percentage of people hit by trains while walking on the tracks than we do with vehicles being hit at crossings.

I think the last time a car got hit was when he crossed the tracks after a train had passed, but didn't see the other one coming from the opposite direction on the other track. I think he drove around the crossing arms.

 

[N801BH]

This in my daily e-mail from Railway Age Magazine®.

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news/rail-fatalities-up-9.7-through-september.html

BTW, "Trespassers" in railroad speak means any non-employee on walking railroad property.
The saddest one, the grade crossing number, is particularly sobering.
Folks, I know you know this, but, please, please, please look out and don't get hit by a train. Although it would increase my job security, I have drawers and drawers of pictures of dead people and mangled vehicles enough to last a lifetime.

So. whats the deal with employee fatalities being up 38 % ?

 

[weilke]

So. whats the deal with employee fatalities being up 38 % ?

38% sounds like a big number until you notice that that represents a total of 5 fatalities. In an industry that large and dispersed, that would seem to be part of statistical noise to me.

 

[Keith Lane]

38% sounds like a big number until you notice that that represents a total of 5 fatalities. In an industry that large and dispersed, that would seem to be part of statistical noise to me.

I think, though I can't back this up, as the economy improves and the railroads begin to hire new workers, the employee fatality rate might inch upward. New workers sometimes "just don't get" how dangerous an environment they work in. Ironically, I've seen cases where guys were weeks or months away from retirement do something really out of character and get killed. Like getting coupled up between cars, or not giving a wide berth when walking around the end of a standing car, and it suddenly moves, running them over. The rules state you must not walk closer than "half a car length" from a car when crossing the track, unless that car has been "blue flagged", which it the equivalent of lockout/tagout in an industrial setting. Yet, you see people on the railroad violate this rule everyday. We as contractors are held more strictly to the rules, though we don't always know all of them.

 

[nddons]

Keith, do you have a sense as to how much of the crossing accidents happen at gated vs. non-gated crossings? (I'm not sure of the technical term.) The headlines highlight the impatient Darwin award winner who drives around the gates and gets hit, but are the lights-only crossings a larger source of accidents?

 

[Pi1otguy]

Most of the grade-crossing accidents really make no sense to me. I can't even count the number of times I've been a pax and endured the hard stop as our conductor desperately attempts to not hit a car, truck, and even people on the tracks.

That said, sometimes the train does actually come out of no where and run the light.

 

[N801BH]

38% sounds like a big number until you notice that that represents a total of 5 fatalities. In an industry that large and dispersed, that would seem to be part of statistical noise to me.

Loss/ Risk prevention people look for trends and the 38 % should be a red flag no matter the true body count.

On a side note;


I just got my health insurance premuim notice for the next quarter....

Don't even get me started on "statistical noise"
Ben.

Ps. And I have not had a medical claim in 20 + years.

 

[Keith Lane]

Keith, do you have a sense as to how much of the crossing accidents happen at gated vs. non-gated crossings? (I'm not sure of the technical term.) The headlines highlight the impatient Darwin award winner who drives around the gates and gets hit, but are the lights-only crossings a larger source of accidents?

I think the answer is a bit complicated because there are so many more crossing without lights or gates. The railroads try as hard as they can to close these crossings, but as you can imagine, the populace doesn't want them closed because of the inconvenience of having a detour. These are the same people who sue the railroad when someone is killed at the unlighted/ungated crossing.
There are thousands of "private" crossings as well. A driveway to a residence is a good example. I'm stunned at how many people who live right by the tracks get hit by trains. My theory is they get immune to the sound of an approaching train and are "just going to the store for a 12 pack" and get whacked.

 

[Richard]

New workers sometimes "just don't get" how dangerous an environment they work in.

Substitute "general public" in place of "new workers" and you have your answer right there. Typically, people don't realize the velocity of a train until it's too late. The engines and cars are massive which lends to an illusion the thing is barely moving. The public really is not familiar with anything to compare to such massive machinery.

Of course, people do try to out run the train at a crossing. It is foolish to try that yet if they had actually stood near the tracks as a "slow moving" train passed by they may be astounded by how wrong the illusion was and would think twice before trying to "beat the train".

 

[Richard]

Of course it goes both ways. You'll have to explain why you stopped the train.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

The engines and cars are massive which lends to an illusion the thing is barely moving.

This reminds me of the A380 demo at Oshkosh - They did slow flight about 500 AGL right at show center. I think they said the plane was doing roughly 120 knots or so, but if you saw it, you'd swear it wasn't moving at all. Amazing.

 

[Richard]

This reminds me of the A380 demo at Oshkosh - They did slow flight about 500 AGL right at show center. I think they said the plane was doing roughly 120 knots or so, but if you saw it, you'd swear it wasn't moving at all. Amazing.

That reminds me of the low approach of a C-5 Galaxy. They said he was indicating 160 but it took forever to pass overhead.

 

[CollinLeon]

We have a lot of train crossings in our town, and they are busy. We don't have too many accidents, but they still happen. I think we have a greater percentage of people hit by trains while walking on the tracks than we do with vehicles being hit at crossings.

Trains don't really do that great of a job of sneaking up on you. It's kind of obvious where they frequent even -- there's these two big iron rails going along areas that the frequent... They also tend to be rather noisy, so unless you are walking along the areas that the frequent with your head up your arse (or wearing headphones listening to music [basically the same thing]), you should hear them before they hit you.

 

[jesse]

Trains don't really do that great of a job of sneaking up on you. It's kind of obvious where they frequent even -- there's these two big iron rails going along areas that the frequent... They also tend to be rather noisy, so unless you are walking along the areas that the frequent with your head up your arse (or wearing headphones listening to music [basically the same thing]), you should hear them before they hit you.

I'd suggest you look for them instead of depending on your ability to hear them. It's not difficult at all to *look* for a train. It's obvious where a train will be.

 

[CollinLeon]

I'd suggest you look for them instead of depending on your ability to hear them. It's not difficult at all to *look* for a train. It's obvious where a train will be.

Agreed... But they are a bit noisy, so they don't exactly sneak up on people if you are walking along places that they frequent...

 

[silver-eagle]

Massachusetts has gone commuter rail. Large "stealth" purple trains that pedestrians get hit by crossing the tracks. I watched as a commuter train approached the station. The crossing lights were on. The crossing bell was ringing. The special pedestrian crossing lights were on. Its bell was ringing. People continued to cross.
One hopes Darwin doesn't take these people because you know the engineer will remember this for the rest of their life. They may deserve it but the engineer and the rest of the crew don't.
YOU CAN'T WIN IN THE BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND THE TRAIN.

 

[Keith Lane]

Massachusetts has gone commuter rail. Large "stealth" purple trains that pedestrians get hit by crossing the tracks. I watched as a commuter train approached the station. The crossing lights were on. The crossing bell was ringing. The special pedestrian crossing lights were on. Its bell was ringing. People continued to cross.
One hopes Darwin doesn't take these people because you know the engineer will remember this for the rest of their life. They may deserve it but the engineer and the rest of the crew don't.
YOU CAN'T WIN IN THE BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND THE TRAIN.

We have already been the expert witness in a case involving a teenage girl, an Ipod at max volume, an approaching train.....
Somehow, according to the plaintiff's attorney, it was the train crew's fault. Other pedestrians even told her to watch out just prior to the accident...
Darwin indeed.

And you are absolutely right about the effect on the crew. Often times they are PTSD candidates from then on.

 

[Pi1otguy]

Massachusetts has gone commuter rail. Large "stealth" purple trains that pedestrians get hit by crossing the tracks. I watched as a commuter train approached the station. The crossing lights were on. The crossing bell was ringing. The special pedestrian crossing lights were on. Its bell was ringing. People continued to cross.

Add flashing headlights from the train & signage too. I see it all the time at our light rail in L.A.

Keith, I've wondered about the usefulness of light rail having turn signals. The trains in my town actually uses the turn signals when "making" a turn onto or off of a street. This in addition to it's flashing headlights, horn, red light for traffic, signage, and a flashing "train" sign. Given all the other warnings plus the slow speed when making these turns are the turn signals even helpful?

 

[weilke]

Given all the other warnings plus the slow speed when making these turns are the turn signals even helpful?

They are very helpful. Helpful to the the plaintiffs attorney if he can proove that the turn signal was not used when the LR train ran over ipod-carrying miss oblivious from behind.

 

[Keith Lane]

They are very helpful. Helpful to the the plaintiffs attorney if he can proove that the turn signal was not used when the LR train ran over ipod-carrying miss oblivious from behind.

In the case we represented, the train was not light rail. It was a 60 MPH full fledged commuter train. Lights Horn, Crossing gates, Bells, Signal Flares, Screaming and arm waving. It was a pretty gruesome sight afterwards.

 

[Richard]

Agreed... But they are a bit noisy, so they don't exactly sneak up on people if you are walking along places that they frequent...

It depends on your experiences. I know of one unguarded crossing in Paso Robles, CA where the train does come around a blind corner shortly before reaching the crossing. Due to terrain and trees, etc, the train does sneak up and often the noise is dissipated by peculiar phenomena. The train speed is 45 mph at that place.

As RRs often do, they roll heavily (no pun intended) over any defendent or critic. Even if the RR wasn't there first. The RR refuses to reduce speed or to install lighted indicators or gates.

It's a blanket statement, one-size-fits-all, to equate all crossings as carrying the same level of risk.

 

[Keith Lane]

As RRs often do, they roll heavily (no pun intended) over any defendent or critic. Even if the RR wasn't there first. The RR refuses to reduce speed or to install lighted indicators or gates.

The gates and lights at a grade crossing are not there to control the train. They are there to control highway traffic, and as such are the responsibility of the governing body over the highway eg. the DOT. The railroad takes over the maintenance of the signal systems (and probably charges the DOT). There are no fuel use taxes to offset the costs of maintaining the railroad's infrastructure like those of roads and streets. The chief competitor of the railroad is trucks. They all pay fuel taxes to maintain roads, and yes, to put up gates, lights and such. Railroads, get a bit defensive (and some might say rightly so) when they are expected to install at their expense, equipment at crossing that can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to prevent cars from breaking the law. Most states, have on it's books a statute that essentially states that before crossing the tracks, each car shall stop not less than 15 feet and not more than 50 feet from the near rail, and proceed when safe to do so. Now, it's not practical to do that, but if the railroads hide behind that law in order to prevent having to add gates/lights at every crossing, who can blame them?

 

[N801BH]

In the case we represented, the train was not light rail. It was a 60 MPH full fledged commuter train. Lights Horn, Crossing gates, Bells, Signal Flares, Screaming and arm waving. It was a pretty gruesome sight afterwards.

Signal Flares ???? I am getting confused again .

Ben.

 

[Keith Lane]

Signal Flares ???? I am getting confused again .

Ben.

No flares.....
Getting metaphorical.

 

[AdamZ]

Actually the commuter trains around here are very very queit. You litterally cant hear them until they are upon you. They are electric so I'm sure that ads to it. Once they are upon you however you and definitly hear them. Jesse is right its better to use your eyes. Even better idea is to not walk on or to close to the tracks.

Our town has had its issues with CSX trying to get them to repar those dang rubber type mats at crossing. They caused issues for autos. Not sure how many accidents its caused.

 

[Keith Lane]

Actually the commuter trains around here are very very quiet.

Railroads spend huge sums of money to make trains quieter. The local populace screams about wheel/rail noise. There are special vehicles that lubricate the gage face of the rail to keep the trains quieter when negotiating curves. There are sections in Atlanta where the crews are prohibited from blowing the horn during certain hours. In the specific case in Atlanta, the tracks have been there since well before General Sherman's urban renewal campaign, but developers saw fit to put in very upscale housing there , and those people make some substantial campaign contributions to our elected officials. That means no horn after late hours. Risk to motorists be damned. Kinda like putting a golf course community at the end of the runway and then trying to shut down the airport because it's too noisy.

 

[mikea]

Keith,

I mentioned noticing at my local crossing that the rail cars have the huge reflective panels on the sides to keep drivers from driving into them.

Turns out that they aren't good enough:

http://www.suntimes.com/3814240-417...-before-freight-train-crash-witness-says.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...south-side-4-injured-20110214,0,5819413.story

Not one, but TWO drivers on opposite sides ran into the stalled flat black tank car. I saw the first guy on TV saying he didn't see it until it was 5 feet away and his car ran under it. How dark does it have to be for that?

I'll buy that the lights were not flashing and the gates weren't down. The train crew is swearing they put out warning flares (Right. After the collisions.) The story also was that the train proceeded two miles down the line when it was halted for another train, so when exactly did the crew go out and drop flares?

 

[rottydaddy]

Railroads spend huge sums of money to make trains quieter. The local populace screams about wheel/rail noise. There are special vehicles that lubricate the gage face of the rail to keep the trains quieter when negotiating curves. There are sections in Atlanta where the crews are prohibited from blowing the horn during certain hours. In the specific case in Atlanta, the tracks have been there since well before General Sherman's urban renewal campaign, but developers saw fit to put in very upscale housing there , and those people make some substantial campaign contributions to our elected officials. That means no horn after late hours. Risk to motorists be damned. Kinda like putting a golf course community at the end of the runway and then trying to shut down the airport because it's too noisy.

I think these folks are like folks who don't like airplane sounds... that is, I don't get them.

I grew up near the tracks, and have been living for over a decade literally across the street from elevated lines, including layup tracks, near a big station. Other than when a work train idles at night under my window (they are extremely loud for some reason) and the repeated "bing bongs" while they test PATH commuter cars before turning them around, I like it. Sometimes a big horn will practically knock me out of bed, but in general I find train noise pretty soothing. And train-watching is fun...seen the Ringling Bros. train come through a few times.
I don't mind the horns, because I know what they're for.
Speaking of the PATH trains, a while back I was on one, and when it discharged the pax at Harrison, it sat there, which was annoying, as I live just across the river in Newark. Eventually someone from the company came aboard, a cop appeared on the platform, and the motorman (or whatever they call a subway driver) came back through the train with the throttle handle in his hand, shaking his head sadly, and told the supervisor "I killed him..."
Turns out some dim bulb tried to climb from the street onto the elevated platform, and not wanting to miss the train, had not waited until it pulled in (horn blaring, BTW) before he swung himself around the extra fencing at the end of the platform. He gets an A for effort.

 

[SkyHog]

Quiet Zones all over Albuquerque. What a stupid idea. When you hit the W sign, they turn the lights on, and that's it.

Bells too, I think, but nothing like the HOOOOONK HOOOOOOONK honk HOOOOONK that usually gets people's attention.

 

[PilotAlan]

YOU CAN'T WIN IN THE BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND THE TRAIN.

Reminds me of the sig I used to have:
"In the repetitive battles between small aluminum flying machines and the immobile Earth, the Earth has yet to lose."

 

[SCCutler]

"Dahveed"?

 

[Keith Lane]

Keith,

I mentioned noticing at my local crossing that the rail cars have the huge reflective panels on the sides to keep drivers from driving into them.

Turns out that they aren't good enough:



Not one, but TWO drivers on opposite sides ran into the stalled flat black tank car. I saw the first guy on TV saying he didn't see it until it was 5 feet away and his car ran under it. How dark does it have to be for that?

I'll buy that the lights were not flashing and the gates weren't down. The train crew is swearing they put out warning flares (Right. After the collisions.) The story also was that the train proceeded two miles down the line when it was halted for another train, so when exactly did the crew go out and drop flares?

If the crew did not know how long they were to be held, then they might have walked back after the stop. I doubt very seriously it was a two mile long train, though. 10,000 foot + trains are not too common, (8,000' probably are most common long trains). The position on the part of the railroad will most likely be that even though the train was stopped, it is the responsibility of the motorist to approach ANY crossing as though there was or will be a train there. The railroad most likely does not own the cars. They own very few cars. The car owners are responsible for the upkeep, even though they most often never, ever see their own cars. If you look at any train, and pay attention to the numbers on the cars, called "reporting marks", you will notice that the identification will be 2 to 4 letters followed by 2-6 numbers. Any group of letters ending in "X" are cars owned by someone other than a railroad. For example, DOWX 123456 would be a car owned by Dow Chemical, ADMX 999999 would be a car owned by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). A car numbered FEC 234567 would be owned by the Florida East Coast Railroad.

 

[woodstock]

How many of these do you suppose are suicides?

 

[mikea]

How many of these do you suppose are suicides?

I kinda doubt the guy who had the tanker on his hood was trying to kill himself and his passenger and neither was the car he heard hit the other side a minute later.

 

[Keith Lane]

How many of these do you suppose are suicides?

Suicide by train is not all that uncommon. the head of METRA in Chicago did it in front of one of his own trains not too long ago. http://www.examiner.com/cook-county...ted-to-exposure-of-his-sudden-misuse-of-funds(Note the "Operation Lifesaver" lapel pin in his METRA photo.) I've never heard of it done with a vehicle, unless the person drove don the track straight at a train, and that was only in a movie. Most often they just wait for the train to come by and then step out in front at the last second. It is a horrible experience for the crew, many suffering PTSD like symptoms for a long time. I know of one engineer who killed a couple at a crossing (in a vehicle) and simply could not bring himself to operate a train ever again. Every crossing he just thought he was going to do it again and freaked out a little.