General Discussion

All of these derailments.

Makes me think that there might be a possibility of enemy action.

It would be interesting to see some statistics on mainline derailments per ton-mile of freight carried. Exclude those ocurring within yard limits that happen frequently but because of the low speeds involved rarely present a serious danger to the public health and welfare. I'd bet the CSX would top the list of all the Class I roads but that's just a gut feeling that could be confirmed by some meaningful comparative measurement.

Another interesting statistic would be a comparison of mainline derailments to $ per mile spent on track maintenance. Common sense tells me there is a correlation between the two. Here again I think the CSX would prove to have the worst record. We are all aware of the scathing FRA report on CSX track conditions that was issued two or three years ago. In all fairness to them, I believe CSX has upped their track maintenance expenditures since then but is still far from catching up with the maintenance that they formerly deferred.

Spend some time reading the messages posted on the CSX Sucks website and you can't help but feel that employee morale is at a low point. There's a wide gap between the lofty goals espoused by management and the working conditions and practices that affect the daily lives and welfare of CSX employees. Instinctively I feel a disgruntled and poorly motivated workforce plays a significant role in the CSX safety record. By comparison on my little old Kansas City Southern most employees are working in concert with management to achieve commonly shared goals and the railroad runs very well as a result.

CSX it's time to wake up and remember the biblical admonition, You shall reap what you sow. The results of short term bottom line dictated management are showing up - almost daily now it seems.

Mark

Employee morale is about the same at every Class I railroad!

carrieanne wrote:

I work as a yardmaster for one of the top 5 railroads. I personally am surprised we don't have more incidents. I know from expericence how easy it is to put cars on the ground!!

First off, it's easy to cover them up in the yard.  Because for the most part, they are out of the public eye, and don't explode.   I can rerail a car using a railroad tie, some wedges, and the frog of a turnout.

Second, you'd be surprised how difficult it can be to derail a car.  It can also incredibly easy.

And yes, employee moral is pretty much the same with the four major US roads.  Don't believe everything you read on CSX-Sucks.  Very little of the it is outright false, but some parts are more true the others.

It is true, CSX's policy of cost-containment is finally coming back to haunt it.  Both it's rolling stock and infrastructure are worn out.  Even the new, and well maintained stuff from Conrail, has been beat down.  I once had a CSX employee tell me with a straight face, that Conrail overmaintained it track.  Gee maybe that's because Conrail ran a high-speed heavy duty railroad, and CSX still runs like a backhills coal hauler.

For those of you that are baseball fans...Conrail was the NY Yankees, and CSX is the Kansas City Royals.  - My appologies to any Royals fans.

Nick

KCSfan wrote:

It would be interesting to see some statistics on mainline derailments per ton-mile of freight carried. Exclude those ocurring within yard limits that happen frequently but because of the low speeds involved rarely present a serious danger to the public health and welfare. I'd bet the CSX would top the list of all the Class I roads but that's just a gut feeling that could be confirmed by some meaningful comparative measurement. Another interesting statistic would be a comparison of mainline derailments to $ per mile spent on track maintenance. Common sense tells me there is a correlation between the two. Here again I think the CSX would prove to have the worst record. We are all aware of the scathing FRA report on CSX track conditions that was issued two or three years ago.

It would be interesting to see that info. Too bad not even Trains mag could get the strait dope out of CSX's books if it tried. I'd imagine with the swell of derailment related liability growing, the true figures on that are locked away.

I'm just waiting to hear CSX's excuse on why all those years of deferred maintenance (so that stockholder dividends could be fat) should now be corrected at taxpayer expense. I expect the reasoning to be a loo loo.

What I'd be real interested in knowing is, of these latest series of derailmants (forgetting the run away, of course), is how many have happened on vital mainlines versus  on out of the way backwater spurs and the sort?

CSX keeps the mainline through Garrett around here looking pretty shiny. So it would be hard to say they neglect it. So priority likely plays a factor

I will keep you guys posted on the derailment. The intermoble was go 60mph when it derailed. That is far as i know and more UPDATES to come on this derailment.

                                                                                         matt

Datafever wrote:

I thought that all incidents, such as derailments, were reported to the FRA (or maybe the STB).  I understand that minor yard derailments may not get reported.  But statistics should be available.

For those interested in train safety statistics, here is a link to the home page of the FRA Office of Safety Analysis.  Stats galore! 

cr6479 wrote:

Another Update with video. http://www.rnews.com/   has it. All eastbound trains were going on the westshore line. Their still more UPDATES to come as i hear my scanner is going off the hook.

Did you read the statement by the CSX spokesperson from the site linked above?  "When we come up with a cause this is something we are going to learn from, this is something we will implement across our 22,000 miles of track that we operate. So we take these things very seriously," said Maurice O'Connell, spokesperson for CSX. How's that for a line of BS?  Good to know that they take derailments seriously; I was sure they really held a party each time it happened.

There's more: "That gives us information about the speed of the train, gives us information about the horn, was the horn sounded and also gives us information about the braking system on the train," said O'Connell.   Yes, better check that horn!

Datafever wrote:

I thought that all incidents, such as derailments, were reported to the FRA (or maybe the STB).  I understand that minor yard derailments may not get reported.  But statistics should be available.

There's a dollar threshold for reporting to the FRA.  If the damage and wrecking costs are less then a certain amount it's non-reportable.  However, if there's a HAZMAT release it's automatically reportable.

Nick

You know, all these crashes don't seem to have hurt CSX's share price much.  Which leads me to wonder about whether the public is picking up on these multiple tragedies.

Usually, the (general) principle is that investors overreact to bad news about their company .  .  .    I don't want to scare people but I wonder if better and more news reporting would have given the public jitters, the shareholders wrath, and CSX management a real headache.  The deaths have occured, but I do feel management still needs to wake up and do the right thing, especially repairing places on the system that are agreed to be in terrible shape.

al-in-chgo

cr6479 wrote:

SchemerBob wrote: All I can say is WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTT!! Three wrecks in a row and 2 on one day! What's wrong with them? Any newspapers have it on their websites yet? Speaking of the wrecks, they mentioned the one in Louisville very briefly on ABC's World News Tonight this evening. It wasn't very much, but at least it made the news. I think CSX needs to be penalized or something. Wreck once, warning. Wreck twice, a ticket. Wreck the third time and YOU ARE IN TROUBLE! Seriously, though, have any "chain-reactions" of wrecks on just one railroad happened like this before? One railroad comes to mind. It was green had so many problems that NYC took it over. It showed all railroads HOW NOT to run a railroad and the name is PC or PENNCENTRAL!!!