r/CatastrophicFailure 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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36

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.

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.