Go home, train....you're drunk: Another derailment, ethanol tankers in MN

[Bill]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/...ons-small-town

A Minnesota town outside of Minneapolis has been ordered to evacuate Thursday morning after a train carrying "a form of ethanol" and "a corn syrup liquid" derailed and caught on fire, police say.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway told FOX Business that its train came off the tracks near Raymond around 1 a.m. local time and no injuries were reported.

"Fire departments from Raymond and numerous area departments responded as several of the derailed tankers started on fire and were determined to be carrying a form of ethanol and others with a corn syrup liquid," the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

"An evacuation area of ½ mile was established around the crash site and law enforcement officers and other EMS assisted with that evacuation," the statement continued. "Residents were instructed to leave their homes and an emergency collection site for those with nowhere to go was established at the Central Minnesota Christian School building in nearby Prinsburg, Minnesota."

[mrvette]

Well if the alky is allowed to evaporate, maybe a jetliner/airplane will fly through the cloud, and get supercharged to twice the speed.......what a heavenly journey!!!!!!

[Bruze]

[Tikiman]

This is fine.

[Yadkin]

WTF is happening with all these derailments? Probably because most US railroads still use wood ties.

[Torqaholic]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

WTF is happening with all these derailments? Probably because most US railroads still use wood ties.

Lack of inspection and maintenance. These things require people to accomplish and the more paychecks they dish out the less profits they get. Corporate greed only has one rule... Mo money, mo money, mo money.

[Louie Detroit]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

WTF is happening with all these derailments? Probably because most US railroads still use wood ties.

Why wood?

https://www.rta.org/why-wood

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Louie Detroit

Why wood?

https://www.rta.org/why-wood

Why not concrete, like Europe?

https://precast.org/2010/07/railroad...olling%20stock.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Torqaholic

Lack of inspection and maintenance. These things require people to accomplish and the more paychecks they dish out the less profits they get. Corporate greed only has one rule... Mo money, mo money, mo money.

My knowledge of this subject is limited to personal experience. In the 80's I worked on a small portion of the NE corridor, preparing for high speed rail and electrification. All the wood ties were replaced with concrete. Instead of a spike to hold the rail they use a spring-steel clip. It allows the rail to rise slightly ahead of the train, thus the tie itself stays in place instead of "pumping" the crushed stone ballast. The rigidity and strength of the concrete tie allows for continuously welded rail.

Travelling in Europe, the trains are faster, more dependable and all I saw were concrete ties.

[Torqaholic]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

My knowledge of this subject is limited to personal experience...

So is mine. Been employed by 3 different worldwide corporations. They eliminate jobs to save a penny. Never heard public safety mentioned as any kind of a consideration except as it pertains to liability.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

WTF is happening with all these derailments? Probably because most US railroads still use wood ties.

I have not seen anything where any of these derailments have been blamed on “failed” wooden ties.

[Bill]

There are supposed to be regular track inspections. I assume that's what the pickups equipped to ride the rails are for, and there's supposed to be automated laser bearing equipment to examine the tracks.

My only thought, knowing nothing else about it, is, the trains are going across those tracks with a literal shit-ton of weight, so perhaps anomalies, defects, and imperfections may not show up under the weight of a truck, but would present when a train is running over them?

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by Torqaholic

Lack of inspection and maintenance. These things require people to accomplish and the more paychecks they dish out the less profits they get. Corporate greed only has one rule... Mo money, mo money, mo money.

What about "government greed"? It is far, far worse than any corporate greed.

It continues to amaze me at the number of Americans who are opposed to economic liberty.

[MadInNc]

…

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by 99 pewtercoupe

I have not seen anything where any of these derailments have been blamed on “failed” wooden ties.

Then why do they fail?

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

Then why do they fail?

Once again, who said the ties failed? It could have been a failure of a mechanical component on one of the cars(like in the Palestine derailment), a problem with rail itself or any one of a number of other causes. I’m sure the reason will come out shortly

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by 99 pewtercoupe

Once again, who said the ties failed? It could have been a failure of a mechanical component on one of the cars(like in the Palestine derailment), a problem with rail itself or any one of a number of other causes. I’m sure the reason will come out shortly

I'm sure that the wood ties are a major contributor. Antiquated technology. Should be banned.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

I'm sure that the wood ties are a major contributor. Antiquated technology. Should be banned.

What you know is only dwarfed by what you think merely you know

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

I'm sure that the wood ties are a major contributor. Antiquated technology. Should be banned.

Originally Posted by 99 pewtercoupe

What you know is only dwarfed by what you merely think you know

.

[Yadkin]

A track using CXT Concrete Ties has greater vertical and lateral stiffness. In concert with the consistent, non-shifting gauge, this drastically reduces maintenance for loose rails and fasteners and track related derailments are virtually eliminated.

https://lbfoster.com/en/market-segme.../concrete-ties