What causes railroad tank cars to derail? In the reading of news reports, derailments are to be expected. Tanker and/or other railroad cars do not derail by themselves — there are causes. There are six questions that should be asked and answered for each derailment that happens: Who, Where, What, When, How, and Why? The why, if investigated, is seldom reported in the media.
I would suggest there are two basic reasons for derailments.
1) Human error, such as excessive speed on a curve.
2) Track maintenance. Railroads have been constructed the same way for over 100 years. Maintenance workers, called gandy dancers, have been reduced in numbers (during my lifetime) from six-plus workers to one worker for a designated amount of track.
My question is: Could track maintenance be the leading cause of derailments? The tracks in the tunnel under Seattle that tanker trains use have just been rebuilt to prevent derailments. I would suggest that all the tracks that railroad tanker (oil) trains use be upgraded to the standard used in Seattle’s tunnel.
Harvey D. Olson
Washougal
