Claims Journal, 5/16/24
Study Shows Longer Freight Trains Have Higher Risk of Derailment
The longer the freight train, the greater the risk of derailment, new research from the Society for Risk Analysis shows.
The study draws on the example of the February 2023, East Palestine, Ohio derailment, in which 38 cars from a 151-car, 9,300-foot-long freight train derailed, leading to the release of hazardous materials that forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 residents.
SNIP
The study found that a 100-car train is more than twice as likely to experience a derailment than a 50-car train. The findings suggest that if the U.S. rail transport system employed 100-car trains rather than 50-car trains (requiring half as many trains overall), the systemwide risk of derailments would rise by 11%.
