"conklin"  wrote:
> Is the geo car ever put on the end of these 100+car oil trains?  If not, why
> not?

Because a.) the slack action at the end of a 100-car freight trains is not
safe for occupied passenger cars, and b.) they want to test as many miles
per shift as they can, so they want to operate on priority trains. As I
said, the usual practice is to run them as stand-alone trains. The route is
determined to meet FRA-mandated test frequency requirements, which are
based on track speed, tonnage, and haz-mat tonnage, if I remember
correctly, or to meet stricter self-imposed standards set by the railroad.

Incidentally, the FRA has a website (safetydata.fra.dot.gov) where you can
run all sorts of reports that could help you avoid making ridiculous
assumptions about railroad operations and accidents. For 2011-2013, track
condition caused 27.3% of all mainline reportable accidents / incidents,
accounting for 45% of reportable damage. (Reportable damage includes damage
to railroad track and equipment only.) Breaking it down further, about 6.8%
of reportable mainline incidents and 5.6% of reportable damage was due to
conditions that should typically be detected by a geometry car.

We're still waiting on causes for all of the big crude oil incidents that
have happened in the last year, but so far the available info seems to
suggest that 0% of them could have been prevented by measuring track
geometry from the back of unit crude trains...

Dan

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