Railway accident

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Versailles rail accident in 1842, 57 people were killed including the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. A. Provost - Versailles - Railroad Disaster.jpg
Versailles rail accident in 1842, 57 people were killed including the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville.
Montparnasse derailment with one fatality at Gare Montparnasse in Paris, 1895 Train wreck at Montparnasse 1895.jpg
Montparnasse derailment with one fatality at Gare Montparnasse in Paris, 1895
Wheels from Engine Tender#013 which was destroyed in a wreck in 1907 on a bridge over Village Creek between Silsbee and Beaumont, Texas. The wheels are on display in the Arizona Railway Museum. Chandler-Arizona Railroad museum-Engine Tender Wheels-1907.JPG
Wheels from Engine Tender#013 which was destroyed in a wreck in 1907 on a bridge over Village Creek between Silsbee and Beaumont, Texas. The wheels are on display in the Arizona Railway Museum.

A railway accident (also known as a train accident,train wreck, and train crash) is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, for example when a moving train meets another train on the same track, when the wheels of train come off the track, or when a boiler explosion occurs. Train accidents have often been widely covered in popular media and in folklore. A head-on collision between two trains is colloquially called a "cornfield meet" in the United States. [1]

Contents

The classification of railway accidents—both in terms of cause and effect—is a valuable aid in studying railway accidents in order to help to prevent similar ones occurring in the future. Systematic investigation for over 150 years has led to the railways' excellent safety record (compared, for example, with road transport).

Ludwig von Stockert (1913) proposed a classification of accidents by their effects (consequences) – e.g., head-on-collisions, rear-end collisions, derailments. Schneider and Mase (1968) proposed an additional classification by causes – e.g., driver's errors, signalmen's errors, mechanical faults. Similar categorisations had been made by implication in previous books e.g. Rolt (1956), but Stockert's and Schneider/Mase's are more systematic and complete. With minor changes, they represent best knowledge.

Types of accidents

Collisions

In comparison to other types of railway incidents, collisions are very rare, with about one in 24 crashes being collisions between multiple trains. [2] : 4  There are several types of train collision, such as head-on, rear-end and side collisions. The three most common causes of collisions in freight trains are all types of human error: failure to obey or display signals, speeding, and violation of mainline rules. Of these, the misuse of signals accounted for over half of the total damage costs. [3] Collisions are the most severe type of train accident, causing on average 21 casualties in passenger trains. [2] : 7 

Derailments

Apart from incidents at grade crossings, derailments are the most common type of train accident, accounting for approximately 18 percent of all train accidents between 1996 and 2017 [2] According to a 2018 study, the most common causes of derailments include, in order of frequency: broken rails and welds, track geometry, bearing failure, and wheel failures. [4] Speed is an important factor in determining the most common types of derailment, with human error common below 25 mph, but rare elsewhere, and mechanical issues peaking at higher speeds. [4] : 8  Because the majority of derailments are caused by rail problems, rail maintenance and track geometry inspection have been found to be some of the most effective strategies to prevent derailment. [4] : 10 

Other

Other forms of train accident include:

Causes of accidents

Driver error

Driver error is the most dangerous cause of passenger train derailments and collisions, with 21 deaths occurring on average when driver error is involved. Driver error can take several forms, the most common in passenger trains being disobeying signals, speeding, and disregarding mainline rules. [2] : 7  Freight trains follow a similar pattern, with the top three types of driver error accounting for over 75% of all freight collisions. [3] : 8  Human factors, including driver error, are most prevalent in the 81-100 mph range. Features such as positive train control help prevent the most common types of human error, such as speeding and disregard of signals. [2] : 8  Human factors relating to automation, such as unsupervised use of automated systems and ignorance of alarms, are also known to have caused several train accidents. [5]

Signalman error

Errors caused by the actions of signalmen include:

Rolling stock failure

Issues with rolling stock include:

Civil engineering failure

Issues with the civil engineering of the railway include:

Other people

Reasons other people accidentally cause a train accident include: [6]

People can break, place something, intentionally set the switch to a collision course, destroy tracks, and this is called rail sabotage. [7] Reasons other people deliberately cause a train accident include:

Natural causes

Contributory factors

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Definition of CORNFIELD MEET". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lin, Chen-Yu; Saat, Mohd Rapik. "Quantitative causal analysis of mainline passenger train accidents in the United States". SagePub: 4.
  3. 1 2 Turla, Tejashree; Lu, Xiang. "Analysis of freight train collision risk in the United States". SagePub: 9.
  4. 1 2 3 Lu, Xiang; Saat, Rapik. "Analysis of Causes of Major Train Derailment and Their Effect on Accident Rates". ResearchGate: 6.
  5. ↑ Rad, Mona Ahmadi; Lefsrud, Lianne M. "Human-Factors and Automation-Related Accidents in the Railway Industry". ResearchGate.
  6. ↑ "Train Wrecks and Track Attacks: An Analysis of Attempts by Terrorists and Other Extremists to Derail Trains or Disrupt Rail Transportation". 20 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "Are the railroads being sabotaged causing derailments?". 19 February 2023.

Bibliography

Further reading

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