Derailments in the North America?

Question

What is the major cause of freight train derailments on (M.R.T) main running track.

Answer 1

all derailments are caused by human error or inattention.  it all leads back to the fact that somewhere along the line a human being for whatever reason;  decided to ignore basic principles whether it be a mishandled train, a switch run through or not lined properly or a derail not seen.\;  or deferred maintenance of track and structures as well as rules.

  A draft gear or coupler/drawbar out is disasterous but before it happened someone made the CONSCIOUS decision to not look at the job the CORRECT way.  Someone went about their work day with something other than their job on their mind.

Answer 2

Wide gage(defective/missing crossties)

Switch improperly lined

Go to FRA site listed fot details

Answer 3

According to the Federal Railroad administration there were 456 train accidents in 2006. 166 were caused by "human factors," 155 were "track caused."

That is yard and mainline track combined. There were 140 accidents on the mainline, but the report I read doesn't differentiate between mainline and yard when listing cause, but it would be safe to bet human error and track defects are the top two.

Answer 4

the main reason for derailments can be a number of things such as speed opjects on the rail or a broken wheel prolly the main reason is because of speed

Answer 5

Derailments are the result of either man failure, defective road bed or equipment failure.

Of course the engineer is hung out to dry when ever possible, but the root of the derailments that are closed out as ‘man failure’ and actually are man failures are on the rise in the US, at any rate, if not North America in general.  The ultimate blame for these failures lies with the carriers ‘hurry up’ promotion programs that are now dictated by acute need for engineers as result of either short sightedness on the part of management as one possibility, but more probably due to putting dividends paid to shareholders ahead of safety.  In other words, they will hire no more than a little less of man-power than what is needed and only hiring at the very last minute.  As a result, people are out there running engines with out sufficient experience.

Keep in mind that, in what used to be a process taking several years for an individual to be promoted to the position of locomotive engineer, now takes as few as eighteen months on those properties where the shortage is most profound.  When it comes right down to it, train handling is more feel, or ‘seat of the pants’ type running, than textbook.  These skills, since not found in a textbook, can only be developed over time with resultant experience.  

This problem is compounded even further where there are young runners with their hands full of tonnage on a grade.  An engineer had better have his head and his butt wired together when they are strung out for a mile and a quarter with 13,000 trailing tons on the side of a hill with a steep grade, because out there, not even God can help him.

I don’t mean to cast any aspersions toward the people in this situation.  It is not a reflection on them or their abilities or dedication.  These types of things I have addressed in the recent past by way of my 360 blog, accessible through this site with a click.  The post of March 30, 2007, goes into this in more detail and spotlights this insanity as the cause of two derailments.  The last of these occurred but a few months ago in the form of a runaway rail grinding train and subsequent derailment at Baxter, California, resulting in two deaths.  Blatant mis-management is seen as well when the facts were developed.  There is a photo of the end result as well. The other derailment spotlighted is the runaway train loaded with 'trona' that erased a substantial part of a neighborhood in San Bernadino, California, with even more dead.

The other primary factor for man failure is extreme fatigue that is rampant in the industry due to antiquated conditions of the Hours of Service Act now in place and by the aforementioned, chronic man power shortage.

As far as other defects are concerned, poor roadbed due to deferred maintenance (lack of ballast, wide gage, defective switch), broken rail, broken wheel, defective draft gear, thermal ‘kinks’, washout or collisions affecting the roadbed involving tractors, vehicles or with a boat or ship where bridges are involved.  Signal failure can happen, but  they are a very rare occurrence.

When these derailments hit the news, there's plenty of coverage.  How many of them have you ever read about when "cause" has been determined?  They don't put that info out because it would blow the lid off of this dangerous practice found on nearly every Class 1 railroad in the US.

Each day that passes without a major pile up isn't because the railroads are good, it's because we are lucky............

Answer 6

I would have to say that most derailments are caused by defective rails, tie plates and washouts. Having said that,  I was responsible for derailing 12 tank cars because I ran thru a switch and then reversed thru it again, then on another occasion I ran over a derailer on a siding in a snow storm causing 2 cars to jump the tracks. I was involved in 7 derailments and only 2 of them were caused by human error (mine), the rest of them were from faulty rail.