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  • West Virginia Track Inspected 3 days before oil train wreck

    From Conklin@1:2320/100 to All on Wed Feb 18 14:47:36 2015

    From: nilknocgeo@earthlink.net

    According to press reports, the drailment of the oil train in West Virginia
    was inspected 3 days before the accident.

    For those of you who track the technology aspect of railroads, what exactly does such an "inspection" consist of? Is the track in such crummy shape
    that it fails 3 days after passing inspection? It seems as if better inspections need to be made.

    --- SoupGate/W32 v1.03
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  • From John Albert@1:2320/100 to Conklin on Sun Mar 1 19:04:54 2015

    From: j.albert@snet.net

    On 2/18/15 2:47 PM, conklin wrote:
    According to press reports, the drailment of the oil train in West Virginia was inspected 3 days before the accident.
    For those of you who track the technology aspect of railroads, what exactly does such an "inspection" consist of? Is the track in such crummy shape
    that it fails 3 days after passing inspection? It seems as if better inspections need to be made.

    You didn't say -what kind- of "inspection" took place.

    It could have been a hi-rail truck with a track foreman conducting a
    visual inspection for obvious defects.

    Or, could it have been a Sperry rail car inspection for rail integrity?

    I haven't seen anything that states what the presumed cause of the
    derailment was.

    Was it a broken rail?
    Pulled-apart joint?
    Broken wheel?
    Burned off journal?

    Sometimes a run-of-the-mill inspection doesn't disclose anything, until
    a short time later when the train comes along and discovers the defect!

    --- SoupGate/W32 v1.03
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