The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) estimates that 94 percent of all deaths due to train crashes happen when people are on the tracks where and when they should not be. The majority of the fatalities, about 500 each year, are pedestrians. Deadly train collisions occur at railroad crossings, on bridges and overpasses, at stations, and…
A collision between a two-car train and a passenger vehicle in rural Suffolk, Virginia (VA), on the morning of December 12, 2020, sent the adult driver and a teenaged passenger to the hospital. The younger victim was airlifted from the scene and was reported to have sustained critical injuries. The railroad crossing crash…
In 1998, a panel of experts convened by the California Air Resources Board concluded that regularly breathing in diesel engine exhaust at work raises a worker’s risk for asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This was true even after factoring in the effects of smoking by employees. The findings should not have…
“Air on Board Diesel Trains Is Five Times Worse Than Beside a Busy Street.” That headline for an April 4, 2019, Chemistry World article would surely grab the attention of railroad engineers, conductors, trackmen and others who work on and around freight trains. But is breathing in diesel exhaust really all that harmful? Yes. On…
U.S. railroads were among the leading users of asbestos insulation and brake components throughout the 20th century. The toxic, cancer-causing material could still be found on trains and in rail yards well into the 2000s because federal rules aimed at ending nearly all industrial and commercial uses of asbestos were issued with loopholes that allowed…