Since the train derailment in Ohio, accidents have only gone up, not down
Mr Jefferies said the railways had taken several steps to improve safety following the East Palestine accident. Previously, the industry required railroads to stop and remove a rail car if the temperature of a wheel bearing reached 200 degrees Fahrenheit. In July, the association demanded that action be taken at 170 degrees. (According to a track detector, the East Palestine train's wheel bearing reached an angle of 253 degrees at one point.)
Union Pacific, the largest railroad in the United States as measured by miles of track, reported a 32 percent increase in accidents during that period. Kristen South, a company spokeswoman, said some accidents, such as those caused by objects on the track, are beyond a railroad's control and that the focus should be on “serious” derailments, a category she said last year with 5 percent fell at Union. Pacific.
BNSF, the second-largest U.S. railroad, owned by Warren E. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, posted a 10 percent increase in accidents during that period. Kendall Kirkham Sloan, a BNSF spokeswoman, said the company is the safest railroad in the country, based on federal government safety measures, and that accidents are reduced through training and technology.
CSX, the third-largest railroad, reported a 31 percent increase in accidents in the 10-month period. Bryan Tucker, a spokesman, said the company's safety performance was “tested” by hiring many new workers after the pandemic, but training was strengthened last year, contributing to a sharp decline in the number accidents in the fourth quarter. As a result, CSX on Wednesday reported an accident rate — which measures accidents as a percentage of distances traveled by trains — that was slightly lower in 2023 than in 2022. (The overall number of accidents is still up.)
The five rail companies' overall performance would have been worse last year had there not been a significant improvement at Norfolk Southern, which reported 29 mainline accidents in the first ten months of 2023, down 37 percent from 46 in same period of 2022. .