Passenger Trains > Rail Safety: You Get What You Pay For

The NY Times has an article comparing US passenger railroads with similar lines in Europe and Asia.  Not surprisingly, US rail accident rates are double and triple those of some foreign countries.  Whether on a per capita basis or on a % of GDP, US investment is a small fraction of spending in places like India or Russia. Even in Spain and China, where serious crashes have happened, rates of accidents are among the lowest in the world.  Japan and France have never had a fatal accident on their bullet trains.As a consequence, industry experts say, despite having some of the least-extensive passenger rail networks in the developed world, the United States today has among the worst safety records. Fatality rates are almost twice as high as in the European Union and countries like South Korea, and roughly triple the rate in Australia.Analysts say the impressive safety record in Europe and Asia is the result of steady government spending of billions of dollars on development and maintenance of railroad infrastructure — including sophisticated electronic monitoring and automated braking systems developed over the past 20 years.

NY Times

Seeing that driving on our nation's roadways is many times more dangerous than taking the train I think we have come out ahead in this regard.  Passenger fatalities are so uncommon that spending $10's of billions of dollars to pevent them is the reason Europe is functionally bankrupt and had a crushing tax burden. 

mbrotzman Wrote:
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> Seeing that driving on our nation's roadways is
> many times more dangerous than taking the train I
> think we have come out ahead in this regard. 
> Passenger fatalities are so uncommon that spending
> $10's of billions of dollars to pevent them is the
> reason Europe is functionally bankrupt and had a
> crushing tax burden. 

Have you ever spent any time in Europe?

Ray

mbrotzman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seeing that driving on our nation's roadways is
> many times more dangerous than taking the train I
> think we have come out ahead in this regard. 
> Passenger fatalities are so uncommon that spending
> $10's of billions of dollars to pevent them is the
> reason Europe is functionally bankrupt and had a
> crushing tax burden. 

There are some countries in southern Euorpe that are in financial trouble. However, the vast majority of Euorpean countries are not "functionally" bankrupt.  Conflating the spending of "10's of billions" to prevent passenger fatalties with the reason for Euorpe's financial problems is quite a fact free comment that mbrotzman failed to back up with data. Even more strange when one considers the depth of that comment about the cost of saving lives sending Euorpe into financial ruin. What exactly is the cost of a human life?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/15 07:47 by ATSF3751.

There's also the matter of $8 gasoline and stiff motor vehicle taxes in many parts of Europe.  And toll roads in many places. That creates a much more level playing field for passenger rail.

(Eliminating short haul air travel helps, too.)