Railworks America

Wow! http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... NodG2vUPgv At least no one died, including the train crew. Must have been quite a sight, ethanol cars shooting flames. Wow!

Judging by the video footage, it seems that some track failed and let the cars take a tumble. Indeed, everyone involved was quite lucky noone was killed. I'd guess that stretch was either weakened already and the weight of the train took it out, or - worst case scenario - sabotage by unknown parties (it happened near a uni campus, so maybe an initiation stunt or just some drunk people trolling), though I personally hope not.

Think the Class I railroads will now inspect their track more often?

The video even made it into one of Germany's most populat news sites, Spiegel ONLINE.

Ozma wrote:Think the Class I railroads will now inspect their track more often?

Haha!
I'd say NOPE. Still cheaper to save on maintenance costs than have one disaster a year.

Railroads inspect their track often. The US has been roasting with a historic heatwave. Sun kinks can form between the time a hirail truck passes and the next train. Extreme heat can weaken ties, tieplates, rail, etc. That's why every rail line in the south had a heat restriction on it last week and most midwest lines..

Plus that area got hit with bad storms. Possibly an unknown subsidenced in the ballast; over time and trains running over it made the track finally fail (with the worst kind of train on it. Loaded ethanol). All things that have to be looked into.

And I guess it's unfeasable to install some kind of cooling system for the rails. Curse you, physics!

Ozma wrote:Think the Class I railroads will now inspect their track more often?

i dont think that will happen....they think of it like this, we have seen what, 5 major crashes this year that only injured or killed a handfull of people, where as within the time between the last big UP crash and this NS one there have been more people killed in car crashes than railways have in the past 10 years!

sorry to put it so bluntly but this is really how they think of it....they might not show it, but it is.

Yeah, sun kinks are a very real hazard with continuously welded rail. It's a wonder it hasn't caused more problems given the extreme heat. [edit] According to NS's official facebook page (which they actually update!) this occurred in the wee hours (2:05 AM), so I wonder if sun kinks would be an issue.

Then the track was weakened from too much heat and then contraction overnight when the rails cool. We can only hope that this doesn't become a regular occurence.

I guess it's just a bit of overreaction on my part.

In any case, I'd think the MoW depts at all the railroads are under some serious pressure.

the wreck was four cars behind the lead engine. so he had to be dragging cars before the wreck