07-07-2013, 10:04 AM
If you have not been a trackworker, or a track inspector, and understand railroads a person does not know what is safe or not. For example, class 1 track in the US requires 1 good tie in 5 to safely haul a passenger train at 15 miles per hour and one bolt on either side of a joint bar is also all that is required. A good tie is not necessarily a new tie. (railroads hauling hazmat or passengers have to be inspected twice weekly with at least one day in between inspections) Before I got involved with railroading I did not know what was safe and what wasn't, but I thought if it looked bad it was. The speed of a train primarily is based on the class of track. There are tables for speeds around curves.
If all rail lines had to be class 5 or 6, which would compare to most model railroads, there would be many railroads torn up and sent to the scrapper.
Neither of our countries can afford to put more trucks on the highway.
When I retired we were paying $24 (no labor cost here) each for an industrial grade tie. There are 3000 to a mile, and they last from 15 to 25 years on a short line, where a class one railroad uses 7X9 inch ties costing around $100 each installed so do the math.
I can tell you from driving truck many years ago that a lot of drivers made the trucks nice and shiny so they were not looked at very closely at road inspections.
In the US we have a 92 day inspection that is done on the locomotives, and this applies the same to a shortline (we ran 500 miles in 90 days) as well as a class one (where locomotives run 500 moles per day or more) It is smart to put your money into safety before you do a nice shiny paint job.
There is way more to this accident than has been reported, and I sincerely hope they determine the real cause, what ever that may be. There are too many things that don't add up to my thinking.
Charlie
If all rail lines had to be class 5 or 6, which would compare to most model railroads, there would be many railroads torn up and sent to the scrapper.
Neither of our countries can afford to put more trucks on the highway.
When I retired we were paying $24 (no labor cost here) each for an industrial grade tie. There are 3000 to a mile, and they last from 15 to 25 years on a short line, where a class one railroad uses 7X9 inch ties costing around $100 each installed so do the math.
I can tell you from driving truck many years ago that a lot of drivers made the trucks nice and shiny so they were not looked at very closely at road inspections.
In the US we have a 92 day inspection that is done on the locomotives, and this applies the same to a shortline (we ran 500 miles in 90 days) as well as a class one (where locomotives run 500 moles per day or more) It is smart to put your money into safety before you do a nice shiny paint job.
There is way more to this accident than has been reported, and I sincerely hope they determine the real cause, what ever that may be. There are too many things that don't add up to my thinking.
Charlie