For railroads, longer freight trains are a way to cut down expenses: CSX, the third largest American railroad by revenue, has increased its trains by 400 feet to an average length of 6,833 feet in total since Hunter Harrison became CEO in March.
There are currently no regulations which specifically govern the length of freight trains, but the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative branch, is launching an investigation into whether increasing the length of freight trains is a safety risk. The Ledger reports that the investigation is partly in response to the derailment of the derailment and resulting fire of a 178-car train in Hyndman, Pa., and a 192-car train in Lakeland, Fla., that spilled molten sulphur. Both were operated by CSX.
The Federal Railroad Administration and the Surface Transportation Board are separately investigating safety concerns related to longer trains, according to the FRA. The Ledger reports that the FRA has had a greater presence on CSX properties in recent months, partly on account of the recent spike in incidents.
Neither agency currently compiles data on the average length of freight trains, but railroads across the country are increasing the length of their trains. Any proposed regulation limiting the length of trains is likely to face push-back from railroad companies on the grounds that the new rules will drive up operating costs.
See the original article online.
My 2 cents worth Me McGuire.
What happens when that freight train is carrying 10 caseload of acetone, another 2 cars of nitric acid and then a caseload of hydrogen peroxide? Train wrecks, and you have a major chemical spill. Do that in my town and you have to evacuate 2,000 – 3,000 people. (Half the town).
This is very costly for a poor town with not a lot of resources in a state that does not have a lot of resources. It also costs people out of pocket things like food during an evacuation.
Yes you should be able to conduct your business without government oversight,, but when your actions can and do disrupt the community at large, then the community, in the form of government will want a say.
The government has absolutely no business sticking its nose into how railroads operate their trains. This smells of a vendetta from the unions. Longer trains = less employees and less dues for the union leaders to pocket. They are the ones that should be investigated.
Time and again over 150+ years railroads have shown that they are not able to operate responsibly on their own. They need, imo, to be comprehensively regulated.
Here we see Congress wasting its time on the matter of train length, something that federal regulatory agencies should have already done.
Why am I not surprised that Hunter Harrison and CSX are bringing this scrutiny down on the industry as a whole? I think CSX should be considered a special case because of Harrison’s ineptitude. Other companies seem to be able to operate longer trains without more derailments.
Steven
Your spot on.
Union guys suppose to be giddy over 75 cent raises meanwhile harrison and his goons make millions
Well it wouldn’t be a complete comment section without Mr.McGuire going on one of his anti union tirades. Mr. Mcguire, I bet if you owned a business and I walked in to patonize that business, you’d sure take my money wouldn’t you? This is a good part of the reason I let my Trains subscription lapse. So many on here want to take a jab at labor, but yet when the trains roll by they expect waves, smiles, and maybe something from a friendly crew. I know this comment has nothing to do with the subject matter, but then again neither does Mc.G’s ridiculous statement.
24 years of doing this, and I have run trains of all shapes, sizes, and tonnage, with only one knuckle (and yes I will take the blame for that one). But my thoughts on the subject would just be seen by some on here as a disgruntled union employee. I just come on here now to read some of the crazy comments. Railroading to me has become just a paycheck and that is something I thought I would never say.
You guys need to come to Csx because with your expertise we can solve these derailment issues
For everyone that says longer trains cause derailments I have one answer: Rio Tinto!
“Physics, dummies” is a hilariously glossed-over answer, and I’d be shocked to learn if any of the people saying that have ever run a “landbarge”. Now I can’t claim to have done so myself, but the consensus from industry professionals, is that reality isn’t all about trailing tonnage or even curvature. Sure they play a role, and can make it harder to run the train effectively, but almost NEVER does the train itself cause a wreck because of it.
The only “wreck” from CSX that I know about that we can contribute mostly to train length is the Fostoria incident a couple years ago which was a stringline due to a lot of trailing tonnage behind a string of empties, going around the connector when an otherwise unrelated emergency application occurred behind these empties, causing the train to stringline. These other events, to the best of my knowledge, have all been related to track and equipment unrelated to the total train makeup, as has always been the case in railroading. The greatest impacts of the longer trains, and the only real case where “physics, dummies” applies is stopping distance. So yes, in these instances, perhaps the wreck was larger in total due to the length and tonnage of the train, based on what was located behind the point of derailment.
To draw a perhaps more familiar comparison, airlines fly some small jets, and some big ones. They’re all more or less the same when it comes to crash risk – still very low, of course – but of *course* the big ones crash “harder” and do more damage, and kill more people.
The same goes for freight trains. I doubt there will be must conclusive evidence that longer trains cause more wrecks, once you control for the causes of the wrecks themselves. And for pretty much all of recorded history, the two greatest causes of derailments are equipment failures (wheels, hotboxes, etc) and then leading the pack by a wide margin is track, from wide gauge to broken switch points: the latter of which is what caused the recent NJ wreck, for instance.
So it isn’t so simple. That is where most of the commentators here, as well as the government, have it wrong.
Mid-train and tail-end locomotives mitigate the slack and drag of long trains through distribution of power. These locomotives are radio controlled from the lead locomotive unit at the front of the train.
I hope the federal government will not infringe on this efficient operation. Railways have been historically over regulated. And, some have gone out of business as a result, leaving crews and management without work.
To the good folks who say the government should not get involved I would say this. When you have derailments and accidents that are your fault it is the governments job to get involved. While at times government can overreach and get in the way the best way for businesses whether they are railroads or any other business to keep the government involvement to a minimum is for those businesses to operate in a manner that does not encourage additional government involvement. This reminds me of the old saying ” the right to swing your fist ends when it meets my face”. With the railroads the right to operate with out government oversight ends when they spill trains all over public and other private property.
You can tell who owns CSX stock lol….Answers are simple here physics applies here.
Jerry I seen first hand how they run there business and safety is one of those annoying things they are forced to deal not because they want to and the current climate at CSX it is not a top priority so you say let them run there own business then be ready for a lot more derailments and risk to the public.
Count me in on Mr. McGuire’s side. Trains derail for a thousand different reasons, and the Gooberment suddenly decides to pay attention for this one reason? Yes, CSX needs to tweak their operating plan for long trains as it could stand some improvement, but the Feds and the Armchair Railroadmen should keep their noses and opinions out of it and let the railroads run their business.
It’s pure physics, guys; no conspiricy or hidden agendas. Long train equals a lot of trailing tons; curves (both horizontal and vertical) exert tremendous resistance to foward motion. With only power on the head end, like so many of CSXT’s giants, it is only a question of WHEN the next derailment will happen.
Mr. McGuire is right on stating that the government has no business involving itself. And, he has a point regarding longer trains equating to fewer jobs. His is the most insightful comment yet.
Robert Mc-whatever,
You are a clueless individual. As a child you would have figured out playing with your Lionel trains length does matter. The law of physics and mitigating circumstances always prevail. So in your perfect world there would be no speed limits or traffic lights. Maybe you need a App for your thinking process. People who think narrow minded like you create the need for government intervention.
Bobby
It has nothing to do with the unions.
Robert McGuire you have no ideal what goes on in rail industry especially at CSX since Harrison took over the Government has every bite of business to over see what rail roads are doing because the only thing CEO like Harrison are concerned with is how much money they can get out the Rail Road and the safety of there employees the public or the environment are the last thing on there minds, I worked on the rails for a long time and since Harrison took over its all been about how much to cut and run it to the ground and if something happens it had to be human error never lack of man power or taking care of the equipment and not to mention the lack of leadership the only way Harrison knows how to lead is through fear and intimidation of the workers and the managers and the only thing to keep the rail roads half way in line is the FRA and it is about time congress takes notice of what is happening cutting thousands of jobs and selling off assets and think your going to have a safe rail road, so you will be seeing a lot more derailments in the future and sadly there will be much worse before something gets done, so Mr. McGuire until you walked a mile in the shoes of a rail roader think before you speak.
From RM below, I reread the article. I don’t see anywhere where it says that this is a “vendetta” from the unions. Really? If anything, I would be more inclined to think the union folks who run these trains would be more worried about their safety as they run these monster trains, if the derailment trend were proven to be from the extra long consists.