Railroads and regulators must address the dangers of long trains, report says
A new report says the U.S. has seen an increase in the number of a certain kind of derailment related to the forces created when railcars push and pull against each other as freight trains have gotten longer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — As freight trains have grown longer, the U.S. has seen an increase in the number of a type of derailment caused by the forces of railcars pushing and pulling against each other, the National Academies of Sciences said Tuesday in a long-awaited report that urges regulators, Congress and the industry to reexamine their risks.
Railroads should take special care in the way they assemble trains that routinely measure more than a mile or two, especially those with a mix of different types of cars, the report said, echoing a warning the Federal Railroad Administration issued last year.
“Long trains aren’t inherently dangerous. But if you don’t have adequate planning on how to put the train together, they can be,” said Peter Swan, a Penn State University professor who was one of the report's authors.
The increased use of long trains has allowed the major freight railroads — CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CPKC and Canadian National — to cut costs because they can employ fewer crews and maintain fewer locomotives. The average length of trains increased by about 25% from 2008 to 2017. By 2021, when the report was commissioned, some trains had grown to nearly 14,000 feet (4,267 meters), or more than 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) long.
