| Posted by FSWood on December 5, 2021 | |
Even though I'm just an amateur observer I'm pretty sure that ain't gonna earn any dividends for the railroad although it might earn something for a salvage company or two.
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| Posted by FSWood on December 5, 2021 | |
Those bent steel plates are likely gonna throw a wrinkle in to the timetable of the project it was purchased for; could be several levels of effects from that.
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I always feel bad making a derailment image a 'favorite'. But I like seeing how it all works. Glad nobody was injured.
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| Posted by Dana M. on December 5, 2021 | |
This always reminds me of how glad I am when my HO layout trains derail, as frustrating as it can be... that none of the cars end up in such a mangled mess of twisted steel and broken axles with wheel sets scattered all over the landscape, although it sometimes does get scattered like this... at least when an HO train derails, everything stays intact and nothing gets damaged like the real equipment in a real train derailment. Also, I don't have to file an insurance claim. I wonder if those auto racks were loaded, because if they were, that is a lot of wasted time in the manufacture of those cars that are now "totaled" for insurance purposes and claims, as well as everything else that was damaged like those steel plates that will push a project back and cause countless costs to the construction project.
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| Posted by FSWood on December 5, 2021 | |
Hmm, wonder if railroads and railroad car leasing companies have standard budgeting for annual average of rolling stock damaged or destroyed in derailments and consequently needing repair or replacement. That thought brings to mind that where my Dad worked in the southeast in the 1970s they budgeted to lose 2 company cars a year to collisions with deer and to have to replace the company cars.
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| Posted by mmi16 on December 5, 2021 | |
Looks suspiciously like a string line derailment.
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Imagine WalMart stationing someone at the door telling everyone coming in to get lost. Just think of all the costs they could save! That’s PSR and indeed “wholesale” railroading since the 1930s.
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I'm curious to know how precision scheduled railroading is at fault for this derailment. Typically derailments occur because of track defects and/or railcar defects, not scheduling. Are you saying that scheduling caused a rail to buckle or a coupler to break?
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I would imagine EMS was being used, Energy Management system, required under PSR as UP calls it The Unified operating plan. Ems has been responsible for many broken knuckles, draw bars and derailments. On flat ground or small grades its ok but you get into steep grades and hills its an accident waiting to happen.
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While the official report has not yet released, my hunch is that the intra-train forces involved with mega-manifests like this were a contributor.
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| Posted by mmi16 on December 6, 2021 | |
Improper train make-up is a frequent cause of derailments in territory with grades and curvature.
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| Posted by xBNSFer on December 6, 2021 | |
bnsf_fan, what people are commenting on is the propensity of "Pretty Stupid Railroading" to feature the operation of excessively long trains that increase the hazards of operation on rail lines that have curves and grades on them (in other words, most of them).
Take a good, long look at all of the equipment and track that has been damaged, the cargo destroyed, and consider the failure to deliver service that is sure to turn off the shippers. Now how many "crew starts" have to be saved to pay for all the damage, and all the lost goodwill? My bet is that if they correctly accounted for the damage done by running ridiculously long trains to cut on crew starts, they have lost more than they have saved.
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PSR has had many names over almost two hundred years. The latest comes from investors demand for super-profits. The average big investor has no interest in anything but money. With a huge physical plant and cost structure railroads are ideal. Cut back on everything cost-wise, the numbers (the only things investors see) look great for a while. When “the chickens com home to roost” investors unload and to hell with the shippers, employees, investors not in the “club” as well as the the public interest. Interesting that EHH came up with this brilliant idea when he did. I wonder if he managed to cash out before he cashed out. A good argument for railroads to be a semi-regulated utility like electric companies? None of them are broke and they don’t take down your power line if you haven’t used enough kilowatts for a couple of months.
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| Posted by xBNSFer on December 15, 2021 | |
It's a good argument for getting hedge funds out of the railroad business. They are the "Gorden Geckos" of the 21st century.
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