The U.S. has been tracking train derailments since 1975, and since then, we’ve averaged about 1704 derailments per year. Most of these aren’t disasters, just annoyances that spill coal, grain, or gravel; and tie up traffic for a while.
But the Ohio derailment may wind up causing long-term damage on the scale of Chornobyl, and since then, people have been paying more attention to derailments in the news.
2023 Derailments
Let’s take a quick look at what’s happened so far this year:
January 9: In Lake City, South Carolina, a train derailed after striking a car that had been parked on the tracks. The engineer tried to stop but was unable to. However, no one was in the car, so no injuries were reported.
January 19: 98 cars derailed near Trinway, Ohio. Only one car out of the 98 was loaded, and no injuries were reported. However, no causes have been reported yet.
