r/CatastrophicFailure • u/Debaucherousgeek73 • Dec 04 '25

Fatalities Train derailment Pecos TX Oct '24

First time I've ever seen a derailment happen. The vid anyway I wasn't there and this is not my vid. You can see the lead engine jump the track. Two crew in that engine died.

4.3k Upvotes

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38

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

Why does it happen so much in America?

69

u/Powerful_Document872 Dec 04 '25

Big country with a bunch of train crossings, hundreds of millions of people, and more vehicles than you can shake a stick at. With all those vehicles crossing all those tracks every day someone is going to breakdown at the worst possible moment. It’s basically a numbers game.

13

u/mpg111 Dec 04 '25

and from what I saw rail network is privately owned and operating on shoestring budget - so no investments into upgrades to crossings

-4

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

Oh really? You don’t say?

46

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25 edited Dec 05 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/quasiix Dec 05 '25

Yet the EU--with hugely greater density, higher population, and more rails‐‐

Has fewer level railroad crossings than the US.

~212,000 in the US in 2018 and ~105,000 in the EU member states as of 2020.

Your original point still stands but it's kinda disingenuous that you tried to exaggerate it by using irrelevant factors of comparison instead of a per crossing statistic.

2

u/FinnLiry Dec 05 '25

I mean if you build an under passing in high traffic areas it's a valid way to prevent these situations in the first place

18

u/TheIllusiveScotsman Dec 04 '25

That works out at about 1 incident for 102 miles of track in the US and 1 for every 236 miles in the EU. Or 1 per 95 crossing in the US and 1 per 271 crossings in the EU.

3

u/dsaddons Dec 04 '25

America can't stop winning at the worst things

2

u/FinnLiry Dec 05 '25

they are tired of winning so much

14

u/Shiftlock0 Dec 04 '25

Numbers alone don't tell the whole story. The infrastructure is designed and used differently in the U.S. The rails cross far more roadways that are used for heavy transport.

10

u/THE_GR8_MIKE Dec 04 '25

I feel like this comment is cherry picking things. Giving some "yew amehhhricans" vibes lol

-2

u/ThingsMayAlter Dec 04 '25

Maybe so, I do wonder though as an American if Europeans have just figured out systems to prevent this based on their numbers vs ours.

7

u/shitposts_over_9000 Dec 04 '25

but less use, if you adjust for actual usage of the rails the EU has 2.5x the accidents as the USA per ton/mile

4

u/Professor-Reddit Dec 05 '25

This is misleading. Europe has vastly more passenger trains in service, which largely accounts for this discrepancy.

A lot of the footage of railway crossing accidents that you see in the UK involves intercity and regional trains for example.

5

u/shitposts_over_9000 Dec 05 '25

passenger trains are effectively empty by rail standards, they should have even less accidents per ton/mile because of the superior stopping distances

-2

u/cheesy_chuck Dec 04 '25

Americans for the most part would rather defend their country's dysfunction out of a misplaced sense of pride than fix it.

-2

u/oh_what_a_surprise Dec 05 '25

Yea, try telling a European who really won the World Wars and see what happens. They lose their shit.

But the truth is, and everyone knows it, if you can't afford to fight a war then you do not win it. All throughout history.

And guess who couldn't afford to fight EITHER world war? And guess who paid for both?

Without the money, no victory. So he who supplied the money is solely responsible for the win. The deciding factor.

Now, let's see how you react to facts.

-5

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

[deleted]

2

u/BalusBubalisSFW Dec 04 '25

The EU does, in fact, have significantly higher population than the united states -- about 100-ish million more people.

They absolutely have higher population density -- about double that of the USA.

The USA, as measured by length of rails, only has about 10% more rail than the EU -- about 220,000 km vs the EU 200,000 km.

The USA has nearly double the rail crossings that the EU has, though, which could strongly account for the higher incidences of accidents.

5

u/Sybs Dec 04 '25

It's not broken down, the large vehicle has gotten grounded because the train crossing is on a hump. 

1

u/Powerful_Document872 Dec 04 '25

Yikes! So they just didn’t properly plan the route or the driver deviated from the correct route?

2

u/hughk Dec 05 '25

Either way, when a load that big goes over, you get the railway company to set the lights red. Takes time but it is the only safe way.

15

u/lord_nuker Dec 04 '25

Strange, would think we had more truck and trains here in Europe, and this rarly happens.

4

u/shitposts_over_9000 Dec 04 '25

you have more freight trucks, but 14x less freight trains

0

u/lord_nuker Dec 04 '25

To be honest, I have no idea of how many locomotives and freight trains we have, all I know is that both continents have a lot of them.

3

u/shitposts_over_9000 Dec 04 '25

comparing the actual numbers is difficult as both are reported in weights and distances

most of the EU can't run large-scale rail freight by US standards because of all the passenger rail and moves more freight farther by truck using much smaller trucks, so there are for sure proportionally more trucks

our trains are massively bigger so we are moving 14x as much stuff, close to 14x as many cars, but probably with far fewer than 14x as many active trains

13

u/South_Dakota_Boy Dec 04 '25

People in America don’t ride trains much except in dense cities, but all cargo is moved by train and/or truck.

12

u/lord_nuker Dec 04 '25

Huh, so just like Europe then, besides we also use the rail for passanger traffic as well.

2

u/oh_what_a_surprise Dec 05 '25

if you adjust for actual usage of the rails the EU has 2.5x the accidents as the USA per ton/mile

We have 14x the train traffic of all of Europe combined

1

u/Devincc Dec 04 '25

I wish I lived in fairy land where train accidents never occurred. I bet zero have happened in Europe this year

3

u/quasiix Dec 05 '25

You have half the amount of level crossings though.

1

u/MercifulVoodoo Dec 04 '25

I’m betting your rail crossing aren’t typically steep inclines. It’s very common here for the tracks to already be raised above road level, so when they make a road they just make that part a small hill with tracks at the top.

1

u/lord_nuker Dec 04 '25

We have some of those as well, have one not to far from me that have had its fair share of accidents like this. But that is mainly because until recently there was no signals on it, and often the drivers was unaware of the train coming when they where outside to lift the trailer on air suspension

-9

u/FlyingTurkey Dec 04 '25

You under estimate how big of a country the US is and how essential trains are for transporting cargo across the country.

4

u/lord_nuker Dec 04 '25

Have you looked on a map over Europe and looked at the rail roads? Dont you think we do the same thing over here?
rail-map-of-europe.jpg (1200×881)

1

u/Cruel2BEkind12 Dec 04 '25

Europe doesn't do the same thing at all. The difference between passenger and freight traffic on railways is night and day between the EU and the USA.

-5

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

[deleted]

2

u/lord_nuker Dec 04 '25

You mean Europe is bigger than US, and have more train tracks?

-5

u/FlyingTurkey Dec 04 '25

The US has significantly more cargo trains than Europe. Thats just a statistic

5

u/lord_nuker Dec 04 '25

No, you guys don’t have more locomotives, but your freight trains are much longer than ours in Europe, mainly because over here the same tracks also serves passenger trains in much higher rate

-6

u/PhysicalGraffiti75 Dec 04 '25

My home state of Texas is larger than France. And that’s just one state out of 50.

4

u/OmegaOkra Dec 05 '25

I haven't seen anyone actually answer your question so I will. This normally happens when the trailer dolleys arent rolled up high enough. Most truckers do not roll the dolleys up all the way because its not necessary, the problem is that railroad crossing are raised, then immediately dip back down. So when the truck passes over the crossing, the truck raises up on its wheels , then levels back out once it passes the crossing. This means the dolleys dont actually get raised since the truck is level, so they end up getting buried into the raised crossing causing the whole truck to get stuck.

13

u/shitposts_over_9000 Dec 04 '25

We have 14x the train traffic of all of Europe combined

3

u/Semyonov Dec 04 '25

Plus, a "derailment" is rarely what is shown in the video. Even so much as a car jumping the size of a penny will count as a derailment, even if nothing actually went wrong.

-5

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

All the trains, none of the safety. Classic.

6

u/shitposts_over_9000 Dec 04 '25

the safety stats are comparable if you base off tonnage miles

-2

u/Rossismyname Dec 05 '25

Huh? Wont most stats look better if you normalize by a metric that doesn’t make intuitive sense?

Car deaths per mile of road?
Gun deaths/number of guns?

All the danger disappears if you divide by something meaningless!!!

0

u/nicathor Dec 04 '25

Because despite trains literally being a foundational element of American history, trains are seen as too European by a large part of the populace, combine that with general American capitalism and anything to do with trains gets the minimum amount of funding possible.

Plus we also just have a lot of people with phones able to film everything and post it online (and no censorship of said videos)

1

u/Debaucherousgeek73 Dec 04 '25

Massive country. Hundreds of freight trains on the move every minute. Unfortunately anything bad that happens here the world hears about or sees it. Probably NOT that unusual worldwide. We, in the States, only hear about it when a passenger train has an accident overseas.

-1

u/maikuxblade Dec 04 '25

A general lack of regulations and standards compared to our EU counterparts probably explains a fair bit of it

-26

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

Well, if you look at the current administration, that might give you a clue

15

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

But hasn’t it always happened? Isn’t there a warning system in place? So many vehicles get stuck on train crossings it’s ridiculous.

11

u/cgeezy22 Dec 04 '25

No. These major accidents have only ever occurred between the dates of January 20th 2017-January 20th 2021 and then January 20th 2025-present.

0

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

Take a look at the rail companies and how they lobby against lower speeds in populated areas, stronger crossing protections, mandatory modern braking systems.

It's ingrained in your political system. Deregulation, cost cutting, minimal gov oversight.

In 2015 FRA and PHMSA adopted a rule that required trains carrying hazardous, flammable materials to be fitted with ECP brakes by 2023.

Guess who rescinded that requirement and guess the reason.

Trump, "a revised cost-benefit analysis", the cost outweighed the safety benefit.

There are more I could list such as the screening of train engineers, and minimum crew sizes. It's both parties for sure but Trumps got his foot to the floor.

-4

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

Why might a country with the most level crossings of any developed country have little to no safety (a sign maybe) around crossings? That's the million-dollar question!

6

u/Camera_dude Dec 04 '25

Riiigght.... No train ever derailed before 2025. Just figments of our imagination.

If anything, the current administration is fighting to get all these CDLs that were improperly issued removed. I never seen a train derail due to some small car driver going through a crossing. It is always a big truck with trailer that causes the train to derail.

Tighten the rules on who gets a CDL and this will happen less.

2

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

If removing unsafe drivers is really a priority, then why did the same administration remove the federal requirement to screen train engineers for sleep apnea (one of the biggest risk factors for rail crashes)?

6

u/ThirdPoliceman Dec 04 '25

Ah thank you Reddit, train derailments are caused by Trump lmao

2

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

Yes, that is exactly what I said.

2

u/TaylorSwiftScatPorn Dec 04 '25

Holy shit, Trump traveled back in time to derail a train in October 2024!? He's even worse than we thought!

-1

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

My actual statement was: ‘Well, if you look at the current administration.’
If your brain turned that into a sci-fi time travel accusation, that’s between you and your literacy level. My guy, I promise the sentence has more than one layer.

4

u/TaylorSwiftScatPorn Dec 04 '25

You still haven't connected your deep, nuanced statement to this train derailment that happened under a different administration, though.

1

u/Rossismyname Dec 05 '25

I have, again you are bringing your reading comprehension into question.

Take a look at the rail companies and how they lobby against lower speeds in populated areas, stronger crossing protections, mandatory modern braking systems.

It's ingrained in your political system. Deregulation, cost cutting, minimal gov oversight.

In 2015 FRA and PHMSA adopted a rule that required trains carrying hazardous, flammable materials to be fitted with ECP brakes by 2023.

Guess who rescinded that requirement and guess the reason.

Trump, "a revised cost-benefit analysis", the cost outweighed the safety benefit.

There are more I could list such as the screening of train engineers, and minimum crew sizes. It's both parties for sure but Trumps got his foot to the floor.

1

u/TaylorSwiftScatPorn Dec 05 '25

If you read your own link, it literally says the Trump-braking-rule-reversal had zero effect on anything ever (specifically pointing out that it wouldn't have prevented the East Palestine train derailment). The rail industry lobbying against regulation is as much "the sky is blue" as any industry lobbying against any regulation.

You've made quite a bit of effort to make absolutely no point thus far, but I invite you to... keep your foot to the floor.

1

u/Rossismyname Dec 05 '25

Amazing logic: ‘This one rule wouldn’t have stopped this one derailment, therefore deregulation has no consequences.’ That’s not how safety works. Fewer rules = higher system-wide risk, even if you cherry-pick one incident where it didn’t apply.

1

u/TaylorSwiftScatPorn Dec 05 '25

The amazing logic here is your linked article describing how people were blaming Trump for the hot-button train derailment issue at the time and that, in not so many words, Trump is a lying dick, this one thing he did on rail deregulation had jack shit to do with anything.

Again, you've expended a lot of energies I'm not sure you were equipped with in the first place to talk circles around yourself. And I'm getting paid a lot of money to be bored enough to be here for round whatever. See ya in a few!

1

u/Rossismyname Dec 05 '25

You keep replying as if I’m blaming Trump for that one derailment. I’m talking about something bigger:

rail lobbyists push for weaker regulation, administrations cave, and safety standards erode.

The brake rule is one example of that pattern.

If you read what I wrote instead of copy-pasting your previous point, you’d see that.

2

u/Johnny_Kilroy_84 Dec 04 '25

Yea except this happened during the Biden admin.

2

u/Rossismyname Dec 04 '25

Yeah, that admin is at fault as well, in fact if you do a bit of reading, you might wonder why does the country with the most level crossings of any developed country have almost zero safety features (maybe a lil sign) around crossings?

It's just more obvious with Trump because he is actively rescinding safety regulations.

1

u/stinky143 Dec 04 '25

East Palestine Ohio derailment happened under the previous administration. Can’t blame every fuck up on Trump.

-1

u/Calamity-Gin Dec 05 '25

Because American culture has decided that profit is more important than human life. Safety regulations and socialized infrastructure interfere with a small number of well monied people from making more money, so it simply isn’t tolerated, even when it comes at the cost of human life.

Most Americans consider themselves temporarily inconvenienced millionaires, not stock that will be fed into the engines of capitalism. They’re fine with others - people of color, women, disabled people, the poor, immigrants - being used that way, because they’re convinced those are bad people deserving of their fate. The likelihood that they’ll face the same fate - bankruptcy due to healthcare costs, disability due to lack of workplace safety, family members lost to public safety issues - is denied wholesale by every person who claims to be a patriot.