Eastern Railroad Discussion > Derailment percentages

There always seems to be talk of CSX having excessive derailments due to deferred track maintenance. Is there a certain percentage railroads allow in order to determine how many derailments are expected vs. how many are considered excessive? What is the benchmark in determining how one railroad does compared to another? Is CSX really that much worse than the others?

Not really. There's just a handful of people on this forum that are staunch NS supporters and take great pains to post anything they can to make CSX look bad. Oddly enough you will rarely,if ever, see them post info about NS derailments.

Baltimore

Actually, there is benchmarking (I hate that word) performed to provide comparison with other carriers. FRA derailment statistics are kept and divided into various categories such as human factor, engineering, act of God, etc.

baltimore Wrote:
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> Not really. There's just a handful of people on
> this forum that are staunch NS supporters and take
> great pains to post anything they can to make CSX
> look bad. Oddly enough you will rarely,if ever,
> see them post info about NS derailments.

That it primarily because NS does it best to keep everyone away from derailment and accident sites. At grade xing collisions, they're known to block off every road within a mile from the site. On a related matter, I hear about NS derailments all the time from the 'inside', but rarely do the media or railfans take it and run with it like seems to occur with CSX's mishaps. While I still don't think they're as frequent as on CSX, I think NS does a good job of picking up the pieces and moving on without anyone seeming to notice, or perhaps more importantly, care...


SH

sharris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> That it primarily because NS does it best to keep
> everyone away from derailment and accident sites.
> At grade xing collisions, they're known to block
> off every road within a mile from the site. On a
> related matter, I hear about NS derailments all
> the time from the 'inside', but rarely do the
> media or railfans take it and run with it like
> seems to occur with CSX's mishaps. While I still
> don't think they're as frequent as on CSX, I think
> NS does a good job of picking up the pieces and
> moving on without anyone seeming to notice, or
> perhaps more importantly, care...

The 2 NS derailments I've seen I was able to get right up to them, no roads closed,
except where the derailment actually tore up the crossing.

ConrailTV-6 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, there is benchmarking (I hate that word)
> performed to provide comparison with other
> carriers. FRA derailment statistics are kept and
> divided into various categories such as human
> factor, engineering, act of God, etc.


http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/

http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/Query/default.asp?page=rrinctab.asp

J

sharris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That it primarily because NS does it best to keep
> everyone away from derailment and accident sites.
> At grade xing collisions, they're known to block
> off every road within a mile from the site. On a
> related matter, I hear about NS derailments all
> the time from the 'inside', but rarely do the
> media or railfans take it and run with it like
> seems to occur with CSX's mishaps. While I still
> don't think they're as frequent as on CSX, I think
> NS does a good job of picking up the pieces and
> moving on without anyone seeming to notice, or
> perhaps more importantly, care...
>
>
> SH

As a police officer who has dealt with derailments, I can tell you that NS has no say whatsoever in where and how roads are blocked near a derailment site. That is determined by the police and more often the on-scene commander from the Fire Dept. If Hazmat is involved, decisions are made using pre-determine criteria based on the type of materials involved, weather conditions, etc., The only thing NS can do is protect their own property from people getting into the scene, otherwise they have no authority to close any roads.

Having seen both CSX and NS in action, I agree with your observation that NS seems to do a much better job at picking up the pieces. They seem to be much more efficient. A lot has been said about their management style (almost all of it negative on here), but when it comes to derailment scenes, their "military-style" chain of command seems to make for a very efficient and quick response and mitigation. It certainly seems like they can clean up a derailment and get everyone out-of-town while CSX is standing around "debating" what they will do next.

RFandPFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sharris Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That it primarily because NS does it best to
> keep
> > everyone away from derailment and accident
> sites.
> > At grade xing collisions, they're known to
> block
> > off every road within a mile from the site.
> On a
> > related matter, I hear about NS derailments
> all
> > the time from the 'inside', but rarely do
> the
> > media or railfans take it and run with it
> like
> > seems to occur with CSX's mishaps. While I
> still
> > don't think they're as frequent as on CSX, I
> think
> > NS does a good job of picking up the pieces
> and
> > moving on without anyone seeming to notice,
> or
> > perhaps more importantly, care...
> >
> >
> > SH
>
> As a police officer who has dealt with
> derailments, I can tell you that NS has no say
> whatsoever in where and how roads are blocked near
> a derailment site. That is determined by the
> police and more often the on-scene commander from
> the Fire Dept. If Hazmat is involved, decisions
> are made using pre-determine criteria based on the
> type of materials involved, weather conditions,
> etc., The only thing NS can do is protect their
> own property from people getting into the scene,
> otherwise they have no authority to close any
> roads.

Interesting. Perhaps they ask the police to do more than CSX does, such as block off access? You say its not in their hands, but what if they are making requests that CSX is not, and getting them honored?


SH