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69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_jef6b1l wrote

Reply to comment by dfiler in Train derailment in butler by thedudeabides412

> The issue of freight rail being safer than ever? ;-)

Except it isn't. and US freight rail is significantly less safe than European freight.
 
https://www.johnlocke.org/the-problem-with-americas-crumbling-railways/

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dfiler t1_jefnt8n wrote

Please reread, as you've misread the post you're replying to. It said nothing about relative rail safety. Instead, it was referring to how our freight rale is safer than ever. It has been getting dramatically safer for many decades.

Here's an article with some stats:
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/09/1161921856/there-are-about-3-u-s-train-derailments-per-day-they-arent-usually-major-disaste

Even with more rail miles traveled, there were 44% fewer derailments last year than in 2000. There were 1164 last year as compared to 8763 in 1978. Certainly, 1978 was a bad year but it demonstrates the trend.

If you want to investigate further, raw data is available from the Federal Railroad Administratrion Office of Safety Analysis:
https://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Query/TenYearAccidentIncidentOverview.aspx

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69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_jefpu2d wrote

"Less shitty than we used to be" is a meaningless metric when our rail system is incredibly unsafe compared to those of peer nations.

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dfiler t1_jefult1 wrote

Rail travel is still safer than flying and driving, per passenger mile traveled. The sky simply isn't falling. Europe having even safer trains does not make our trains unsafe.

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69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_jefwh1f wrote

"This happens all the time and is perfectly safe!" - Me as a fireball engulfs the derailed tanker cars next to my house

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