When will the wheels be pulled? After the next derailment, greedy profits come first...

Fixed it for you. ;-)

I have nothing against companies making a reasonable profit, but these days that "reasonable" bit doesn't seem to be enough when gouging can be had instead. :-(

When will the wheels be pulled? After the next derailment, greedy profits come first...

Fixed it for you. ;-)

I have nothing against companies making a reasonable profit, but these days that "reasonable" bit doesn't seem to be enough when gouging can be had instead. :-(

Well it seems to be their view, not mine.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

Not a good evening for travelling home by train.

Sydney’s rail network has suffered a “train communication issue” that wreaking havoc ahead of the afternoon’s peak hour rush.

A 2015 system already becoming obsolete? Who didn't do their homework?

Sydney trains digital radio system parts 'obsolete', according to confidential report.

In the case of communications or computers it is obsolete by the time it comes off the assembly line.

Great result for the climate.
Let the train take the strain

Not a good evening for travelling home by train.

Sydney’s rail network has suffered a “train communication issue” that wreaking havoc ahead of the afternoon’s peak hour rush.

A 2015 system already becoming obsolete? Who didn't do their homework?

Sydney trains digital radio system parts 'obsolete', according to confidential report.

Guess what?
More chaos on the Sydney train network. Apparently there are urgent signalling repairs being carried out at Homebush.

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Grant
Darwin NT

The whole UK rail system seems to have been affected by a spate of signal failures recently. Sometimes these are attributed to the theft of electrical wiring from the trackside, but more often it's just left as a generic report without further explanation.

Burrowing badgers halt Dutch train services https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/badgers-trains-netherlands-intl-scli/index.html

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The whole UK rail system seems to have been affected by a spate of signal failures recently. Sometimes these are attributed to the theft of electrical wiring from the trackside, but more often it's just left as a generic report without further explanation.

The more often unreported bit is most likely 'happenings' from a complete lack of preventative maintenance.


A director of a certain American company I once did support work for gave a horrified exclamation that I was being paid for keeping things working. Why pay someone if things are working?... Hence, for a transition period, the support became "response only"... And they suffered their first outages and very greatly increased costs...

All in the stupidity of cooking the books, blindly one month at a time...

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Yet another 1 comes off the rails.

Fiery train derailment in Minnesota prompts evacuations of homes.

A train hauling ethanol and corn syrup derailed and caught fire in Minnesota early Thursday and nearby residents were ordered to evacuate their homes.

The BNSF train derailed in the town of Raymond, roughly 160 kilometres west of Minneapolis, about 1 am, according to a statement from Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson.

The train "had numerous rail cars derail" and several caught fire, Sheriff Tollefson said.

"There have been no injuries as a result of the crash or emergency response," the sheriff's department said in a Facebook post.

"BNSF specialists are on scene and continued mitigation is occurring."

Homes in an area 800m around the site were evacuated, according to the sheriff, and residents were taken to a shelter in nearby Prinsburg.

BNSF officials said 22 cars derailed, including about 10 carrying ethanol, and the track remains blocked, but that no injuries were reported due to the accident.

The cause of the derailment hasn't been determined. EPA officials said on Twitter that four ethanol cars ruptured and the flammable fuel additive caught fire in the derailment.

They continued to burn Thursday morning, ten hours after the derailment.....

In other developments 1 property at commercial property Cross Creek is in arbitration and the DroneZone is covering the location, viaduct and all.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

And yet another jumps the rails.

Train derails 25 cars in Montana, spilling unconfirmed contents.

At least 25 cars derailed from a train in Montana on Sunday, spilling their contents onto the ground and into a nearby body of water.

First responders say there is no threat to the public, but there has yet to be confirmation about what the affected containers were carrying. Montana Rail Link, which owns the railroad, is aware of the situation, but the company that owns the train has yet to be identified, according to NBC Montana.

The Sanders County Sheriffs Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

There have not been any reported injuries from the crash....

What's the economics of train derailments and the cleanups?

Or is there a profitable game of the insurance pays?...


Certainly, someone suffers paying...

Stay clear folks!!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Certainly, someone suffers paying...

Maybe not. Might be like the airlines and there is a false low limit on damages by law.

What's the economics of train derailments and the cleanups?

Don't know how ture it is, but i've heard of the Ford Pinto, and the problem with it's fuel tank in a collision.
Supposedly Ford figured out it was cheaper to payoff for any deaths or injuries that occurred than to recall & repair the entire production of Pintos that were affected.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the railways have done the same cost/benefit analysis. Save so much money by cutting back on maintenance/ increasing servicing intervals. Whatever costs are incurred as a result of the anticipated increase in accidents & incidents will still be paid for by the reduced maintenance costs (at least until the lack of maintenance & age of the fleets reaches the point where the accidents & incidents go well beyond the earlier estimates & the whole business starts collapsing in on itself. By that time those that made the decisions will have picked up all their bonuses for improving the bottom line (even though it was only temporary & a result of accounting double speak) and have moved on to greener pastures).
Ain't free enterprise great?

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Grant
Darwin NT

What's the economics of train derailments and the cleanups?

Don't know how ture it is, but i've heard of the Ford Pinto, and the problem with it's fuel tank in a collision.
Supposedly Ford figured out it was cheaper to payoff for any deaths or injuries that occurred than to recall & repair the entire production of Pintos that were affected.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the railways have done the same cost/benefit analysis. Save so much money by cutting back on maintenance/ increasing servicing intervals. Whatever costs are incurred as a result of the anticipated increase in accidents & incidents will still be paid for by the reduced maintenance costs (at least until the lack of maintenance & age of the fleets reaches the point where the accidents & incidents go well beyond the earlier estimates & the whole business starts collapsing in on itself. By that time those that made the decisions will have picked up all their bonuses for improving the bottom line (even though it was only temporary & a result of accounting double speak) and have moved on to greener pastures).
Ain't free enterprise great?

Out here east of where I live at the UPRR had a derailment, it was a runaway freight train, so no one got hurt, the contents? Iron Ore...
Pretty much only the 2 mangled locos could be seen, the 55 cars? Bits and pieces... The BNSF had a derailment in Aridzona back on March 15th near the i40... The Daily Press has an article on it here.

San Bernardino County Fire officials on Monday morning responded to a Union Pacific train derailment near Kelso Depot in the Mojave National Preserve east of Barstow.
Photo Courtesy Of The San Bernardino County Fire Department.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

And in Montana a train spills its load of beer and powdered clay into a river.

Hard cleanup: Montana train derailment spills beer and clay

AP - Deadly train derailment near The Hague

BBC - Dutch rail crash: One dead after passenger train hits crane and derails

At least one person has been killed and about 30 injured - some seriously - after a passenger train derailed in the western Netherlands.

Emergency services say the overnight crash happened after the train transporting about 50 people hit a construction crane near the village of Voorschoten.

A freight train is also reported to have been damaged in the collision.

Some people were treated at the scene but 19 have been taken to hospital.

The crash happened at about 03:25 local time (01:25 GMT) on Tuesday.

For those USA trains, there looks to be a repeated story of a concertinaed pile-up before the brakes take effect...

Maybe some design flaw?...


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

For those USA trains, there looks to be a repeated story of a concertinaed pile-up before the brakes take effect...

Maybe some design flaw?...


Stay safe folks!
Martin

The entire train has air brakes and so the brakes go from one end to the other.

That said here's a better explanation:

A railway air brake is a railway brake power braking system with compressed air as the operating medium.[1] Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on April 13, 1869.[2] The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell Westinghouse's invention. In various forms, it has been nearly universally adopted.

The Westinghouse system uses air pressure to charge air reservoirs (tanks) on each car. Full air pressure causes each car to release the brakes. A subsequent reduction or loss of air pressure causes each car to apply its brakes, using the compressed air stored in its reservoirs.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST