Safety Tidbit 4.32 - Railway Safety

Safety Tidbit 4.32 – Railway Safety

This week’s Safety Tidbit was written by one of my students, Devin Jeffries – a junior in the Safety Sciences Program at Indiana University of PA.

In August of 2018 at Station Square in downtown Pittsburgh, a Norfolk Southern train derailed leaving seven rail cars destroyed and various freight products lost. The scary accident reminded people of the danger of rail travel and raised safety concerns. These concerns could heighten even more as rail companies are considering stacking crates and transporting more hazardous materials by train in the future.

These concerns will be counteracted by the rail companies, as statistics show a steady decline in railway derailments. Regulators tend to give flexibility to the major rail companies to operate their lines, as they currently perform their track inspections and schedule the dispatching of their trains. Companies would say that it is impossible for regulators to check all the logs, and regulations to standardize the industry would result in higher cost on wholesale prices. A safety professional would argue that these concerns counteracted by the rail companies are not enough to change public interests of putting lives on the line and damage to property if a derailment were to occur.

Derailments often occur due to track defects and human error, and because there is so much traffic on the rails, it is hard to find down time to identify flaws and repair tracks. In Allegheny County, 18 trains have derailed since 2015, causing $1 million in damage. As companies are starting to ship more oil and petroleum, accidents could be far more dangerous.

Currently, advanced technologies such as ultrasound and software platforms search irregularities in the miles of train lines. Also, rail companies use efficiency software (using factors such as trip length, population surrounding track quality, and other hazards) to map the best path for a train based on their cargo. Lastly, rail companies use newer models of tank cars because of the rise in hauling oil and other hazardous materials.

Track defects are the most significant factor to cause derailments in the industry. The use of the advanced track testing technology will help to identify these irregularities. However, employers need to extensively train employees to recognize defects and have the ability to report and fix them. Companies should also consider slowing the trains down to lower the risks of error and put more peace into the minds of people. Companies could consider investing more in inspecting the trains themselves for any deficiencies. Correcting these errors could lower the risk for a train to derail because it is in better condition. Taking time to do this before every train leaves the station is vital to ensuring it has the safest travel. 

Trains are vital to transporting large amounts of materials, but they are very dangerous and have the potential to hurt whole neighborhoods and damage vast amounts of property. Putting safety first will ensure the railway company’s cargo gets to where it needs to go.

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.