[PugMom]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

I'm more worried about my golf game.

😜👍 love it!

[Villagesgal]

The train tracks have been there for over 100 years. No problems. If it keeps you awake at night you should have thought of that prior to moving to the Villages.

[Geodyssey]

Originally Posted by Hardlyworking

There are no train tracks on the turnpike and a single tanker truck won’t cause the same level of harm as a 3 mile long train.

Three-mile long train? lol, no.

That's Drudge Report material.

[Veiragirl]

Originally Posted by Keefelane66

Any concern on possible train derailments close to The Villages? Not that I except it should happen concerned. No one expects it to happen in their backyard.

You have WAY too much time on your hands to worry about things that probably wont happen.

[Hardlyworking]

Originally Posted by Geodyssey

Three-mile long train? lol, no.

That's Drudge Report material.

Nope. GAO.

Rail Safety: Freight Trains Are Getting Longer, and Additional Information Is Needed to Assess Their Impact | U.S. GAO

“Thirty-eight cars in the 141-car train, stretching two miles long and operated by Norfolk Southern, were carrying a variety of chemicals including vinyl chloride.”

And just for the record, I do not read The Drudge Report.

[Timeweaver1]

Originally Posted by tvbound

Taking emotion and fear-mongering out of the equation, the simple fact is that freight train operations are safer than ever.

Freight Rail Facts & Figures - Association of American Railroads


"Between 2000 and 2021, the train accident was down 33%. The rail employee injury rate in 2020 was an all-time low."

More than 99.9% of all hazmat moved by rail reaches its destination without a release caused by a train accident. Between 2012 and 2021, the hazmat accident rate was down 55%.

Wait--we are comparing numbers to 2020-2021 during covid when the economy slowed down. Thank God the rate was down then -- nothing was moving.

[Keefelane66]

Originally Posted by Veiragirl

You have WAY too much time on your hands to worry about things that probably wont happen.

Say the same to the East Palestine residents I'm sure they didn't expect it to happen either. Let’s worry about dog poop.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by Tvflguy

Large rail yard in Wildwood off 301 near 44. Just yesterday I got caught by a train. No exaggeration, it must have had 125+ cars. Many of them were tankers. This train was so long it had another running locomotive in the middle of the thing.

I was very close to the train as it was passing, and Ohio incident was constantly on my mind.

Those poor folks in that town. No doubt the State and Feds would be handling this matter differently if it happened in an affluent area.

The truth is probably "yes", depending also on the predominate political philosophy of the area also. I've posted I don't live my life thinking what "might" happen, but you are correct, how can one be the first car stopped down by the Oxford crossing where so many LONG, LONG, trains go through at least once, usually more, each day... a MAJOR route. The sad "drip, drip, drip" has started; seems the railroad employees have been alarmed for some time at the length railroads are going to to save money, lengthening trains to dangerous levels, putting off track repairs as often as possible, and NO contingency planning (even it it never happens) on the part of railroad officials, officials of the communities close to such major tracks (The Villages, Oxford, Wildwood, etc. etc), and the Federal and state governments. Do you think the leaders of these communities (Villages does not even HAVE a mayor or city council so would be dependent on each of the counties to KNOW what do) would be at the top of their game and have FACTUAL information on what to do ? The whole situation in Ohio and Pennsylvania just highlights how expendable human life is to the political class regardless of philosophical direction. Hopefully, as usual, religious organizations, volunteer organizations, etc. will step in and give some REAL help in this disaster.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Number 10 GI

Hopefully we will be told what caused the derailment. Mechanical failure of one of the train cars or something wrong with the tracks. My money is on poorly maintained rail tracks. A prudent person would have an inspection done of the rail line before a train carrying dangerous chemicals was allowed to move. Unfortunately, does a prudent person exist?

Yes but obviously does not work for the govt

[retiredguy123]

Why do my Federal tax dollars need to pay for everything?

[tvbound]

Originally Posted by Timeweaver1

Wait--we are comparing numbers to 2020-2021 during covid when the economy slowed down. Thank God the rate was down then -- nothing was moving.

Sorry, but 'cherry-picking' not allowed. lol

Which is the only explanation for ignoring this part...

"Between 2012 and 2021, the hazmat accident rate was down 55%."

That's 9 years, for the math challenged. lol

[tvbound]

Originally Posted by Hardlyworking

Nope. GAO.

Rail Safety: Freight Trains Are Getting Longer, and Additional Information Is Needed to Assess Their Impact | U.S. GAO

“Thirty-eight cars in the 141-car train, stretching two miles long and operated by Norfolk Southern, were carrying a variety of chemicals including vinyl chloride.”

And just for the record, I do not read The Drudge Report.

Thanks for introducing facts, to a very uninformed comment/opinion.

A very close friend of mine, who has about a half-century in the railroad industry (many years at the executive level), told me that before CSX sold the line from Pensacola to Baldwin a few years ago, they had experimented with trains from between 15,000'...all the way up to 19,000' long.

They used DP's (distributed power), which are locomotives positioned back toward the middle of the train to reduce in-train stresses (buff/draft), that are caused by just having locomotives on the head-end. The reason they chose this portion of their system to experiment with, was because of the relatively flat grade and minimal curvature.

I've been a railroad 'fan' for many years, but not to be confused with being a - "railroad foamer." LOL

[Keefelane66]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Yes but obviously does not work for the govt

It's corporately owned RR Tracks, RR cars
“ America's freight railroads are almost entirely privately owned and operated. Unlike trucks and barges, freight railroads operate overwhelmingly on infrastructure they own, build, maintain and pay for themselves. Approximately 630 freight railroads operate across the nearly 140,000-mile U.S. freight rail network.”
“ In short: railroad tracks. More specifically: the rail service doesn’t own many of them, a situation arising from the its origins, as a product of the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, when it was created largely because railroad companies could not make passenger rail profitable anymore. But while that law put hundreds of passenger lines under Amtrak’s control, it did not give them ownership over the vast majority of country’s railroad tracks, meaning that unlike nearly every other country in the world, the American government largely doesn’t own its own intercity rail infrastructure.”

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by Veiragirl

You have WAY too much time on your hands to worry about things that probably wont happen.

Hmmm...

I seem to remember a famous Floridian singing about that...

[Hardlyworking]

Another train derailment today near Detroit. One hazmat car was in the lineup. That car was derailed but did not lose its load.