Causes of Railroad Accidents

automobilist/cyclist/pedestrian attempting to outrun a train, pedestrian hopping a moving train, equipment vandalism or any other deliberate acts.

· Defective track 35% – Includes track that is improperly designed or laid, and poorly designed roadway/railway intersections.

· Defective equipment 12% – Includes faulty mechanical design of train engine or train cars, braking systems, track switching equipment.

· Defective signaling devices 2% – Defective horns, lighting, or any other signaling that occurs at railroad/roadway intersections.

· Miscellaneous 13% – This includes civil engineering errors such as bridge or tunnel collapse, embankment washouts due to flood, extreme weather and other “acts of god.”

Of these causes, the two biggest threats to safety are poor maintenance and operator fatigue. Some figures indicate that the last 20 years have seen a 50% reduction in the number of railroad maintenance workers. While the implementation of new technology may be responsible for some of this reduction, cost-cutting and profit maximization on the part of the railroad corporations likely has much more to do with it. By FRA law, train operators are now limited to 12-hour shifts. This may reduce the number of fatigue-related accidents, but it is by no means enough to eliminate the risk completely.

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