Railway safety

“ Nearly everything used on a railroad has an economic or mechanical value, and if it promotes safety that is but part of its duty. The great source of safety in railroad working is good discipline. Of all the train accidents which have happened in the United States in the last [192] sixteen years, nearly ten per cent. were due to negligence in operation, and seventeen per cent. were unexplained. Of these no doubt many were due to negligence, and many that were attributed to defects of track and equipment would have been prevented, had men done their duty. ”

“ Strength and safety must be assured and economy not forgotten. Every contingency must, if possible, be anticipated, while the emergencies which arise during every great construction demand constant watchfulness and prompt and accurate decision.
The financial success of the largest enterprises rests upon such practical application of theory and experience. Even more weighty still is the fact that the safety of thousands of human lives depends daily upon the permanency and stability of railway structures. ”

“ The number of servants killed in train accidents is the next in importance. The safety of passengers is, indeed, the first care of the railway manager; but the employés, exposed to many risks from which the passengers are protected, must be looked after. On the British railways the men who run the trains are safeguarded very efficiently, and the collisions and derailments which are serious enough to do injury to the trainmen or the engine men are really rare. ”

“ The remarkable safety with which railway traffic is on the whole conducted, is due to constant watchfulness and highly-applied skill. The men who work the railways are for the most part the picked men of the country, and every railway station may be regarded as a practical school of industry, attention, and punctuality. ”

“ No public servants, I think, more deserve our sincere sympathy and support than the guards of our railway trains. It is obvious to all of us who have to travel constantly on railways how much our safety depends on their industry, their vigilance, their sobriety, and their discipline ”

“ It is not necessary for us to decide whether an engineer may suddenly and without notice quit the service of a railway company at an intermediate station or between stations, though cases may be easily imagined where a sudden abandonment of a train load of passengers in an unfrequented spot might imperil their safety, and even their lives. ”

“ By this means an immense number of trains can be worked with regularity and safety. On p. xvithe South-Eastern Railway, where the system has been brought to a state of high efficiency, it is no unusual thing during Easter week to send 600,000 passengers through the London Bridge Station alone; and on some days as many as 1200 trains a-day.
While such are the expedients adopted to ensure safety, others equally ingenious are adopted to ensure speed. ”

“ The public is not without its duty toward the million or so of men in the railroad service. The liability to death or maiming from accident is such a real factor in railroad men's lives that the public, and especially shareholders in railroads, are bound to not only uphold officers in providing every possible appliance and regulation for safety, but to demand the introduction of such devices. ”

“ Signals.—Railway tradition alleges that on one of the early lines opened for passenger traffic, the precautions for public safety were considered to have been fulfilled by providing a man on horseback to ride along the track between the rails in the front of the locomotive engine, to give warning to persons strolling on the line, and to check the advance of the train when necessary. ”

“ JOCK'S COLLIE. A True Story.
Travellers over the great trans-continental railways of the United States and Canada gaze with awe and wonder at the grandeur of Nature in the wild canyons and rugged peaks of the Rocky Mountains. In many places the railway tunnels through overhanging rocks, or winds round narrow shelves above gloomy precipices.
The railway companies take the greatest precautions for the safety of their trains in the mountain sections. Besides the usual working gangs, there are special track-walkers, and 'safety switch-openers,' who lead solitary lives in the great hills. ”

“ Where railways fail in these respects, it will usually be found that it is because the men are personally defective, or because better men are not to be had. It must also be added that the onerous and responsible duties which railway workmen are called upon to perform require a degree of consideration on the part of the public which is not very often extended to them.
Few are aware of the complicated means and agencies that are in constant operation on railways day and night to insure the safety of the passengers to their journeys' end. ”

“ At crossings at grade level of one railway with another, and at drawbridges, interlocked signals with derailing switches obviate the necessity of stopping all the trains, as formerly was required by law everywhere in America, and saving a stop saves money. The block system was introduced primarily for safety, but where trains are frequent it becomes also an element of economy. ”

“ We passed an act improving safety appliances on railway trains without much opposition, but we had more trouble with acts regulating the hours of labor of railway employees and making those railways which were engaged in inter-State commerce liable for injuries to or the death of their employees while on duty. ”

“ To require a lodge to be maintained at public crossings for foot-passengers wherever circumstances render it necessary for safety. 8. That railway companies shall be required by law, under adequate penalties, to supply all trains with sufficient brake-power to stop them within five hundred yards under all circumstances. 9. That in order to produce greater punctuality in the conduct of the traffic on railways, additional facilities be afforded to the public for obtaining compensation when trains are late. ”

“ That this progress has been accomplished by increased safety is demonstrated by common knowledge and confirmed by the records, both of the railroads and the public authorities. As an illustration, take the statistics of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The increased safety of railroad operation is indicated in part by the following figures:
For the decade following the beginning of the records, namely, 1888 to 1897, the fatalities were 1 in 45,300,000 ”

“ Safety on Suburban Railroads.—Two recent railway accidents have forcibly directed attention to the necessity of providing more efficient means of protecting passengers who have to travel on lines whose trains run with excessive frequency, as on the suburban railways of large cities. ”

“ The ever-increasing casualty list upon our railroads is a matter of grave public concern, and urgently calls for action by the Congress. In the matter of speed and comfort of railway travel our railroads give at least as good service as those of any other nation, and there is no reason why this service should not also be as safe as human ingenuity can make it. Many of our leading roads have been foremost in the adoption of the most approved safeguards for the protection of travelers and employees, yet the list of clearly avoidable accidents continues unduly large. ”

“ Of course railways should bring their trains to a halt at places convenient for passengers to alight. Bringing a car to a solemn stand-still at a spot at which it is unsafe to get out, under circumstances which warrant one in believing that it is intended he shall alight and that he may do so in safety (without giving him warning of his danger) , amounts to negligence on the part of the company, for which an action may be maintained if the passenger has not in any way contributed towards the accident. ”

“ Of course, so long as railways are worked by men, they will be liable to the imperfections belonging to all things human. Though their machinery may be perfect, and their organization as complete as skill and forethought can make it, workmen will at times be forgetful and listless, and a moment's carelessness may lead to the most disastrous results. Yet, taking all circumstances into account, the wonder is that traveling by railway at high speeds should have been rendered comparatively so safe. ”

“ If railroads can afford to protect their rolling-stock in the way described, the interests and property of the public might reasonably be expected to receive equal consideration. In plain language, the pressing of a button in crossing-houses, in connection with proper signals, would give the public the protection so urgently called for. Altogether the foregoing may be taken as a very good object lesson on the safety problem oh our railroads. ”

“ In other words, the introduction of the modern railroad, so far from proportionately increasing the dangers of traveling, has absolutely diminished them. It is not, after all, the dangers but the safety of the modern railroad which should excite our special wonder. ”

“ The hazardous nature of the work is indicated by a statement made by a prominent union official to the effect that the Trainmen's Brotherhood paid a claim for death or disability every seven hours. A report to the Interstate Commerce Commission states that there is one case of injury in train or yard service every nine minutes. With the invention of safety devices the risk of accident has been greatly lessened, but railroading is still one of the most dangerous industrial occupations. ”

“ Parliament has compelled the British railways to adopt, in the interest of the public safety, the block system and continuous brake, and great lines like the New York Central and Hudson River companies should be compelled to adopt such improvements. ”

“ The best thing that can be done at present is to arrange everything connected with the road so that the chance of accident will be kept as low as it is possible for imperfect humanity to keep it.
Transportation accidents have always occurred and probably always will occur. In the early days of the railway such papers as Harper’s Weekly ran weekly illustrated accounts of railway accidents. If it was the intention to induce the people not to patronize the train service it utterly failed. To prevent shipping accidents the Government has spent millions in lighthouses and water-front protection. ”

“ While at station conductors will do such switching as may be required by the station agent. Trainmen and switchmen must not couple to or move cars that are being loaded or unloaded on side tracks without first ascertaining whether anyone is in or about such cars and giving them ample notice that same are to be moved. They must not obstruct street or public crossings with their trains and be particular when at junction points not to allow any part of their train to stand on railway crossings or interlocking plants. ”

“ While full provision is thus made for the representation of the military element in the conduct of rail-transport in time of war, with a view to ensuring its efficiency, precautions are no less taken to avoid repetitions of earlier troubles due to questions of responsibility and control, and, more especially, to the interference of military officers in the technical operation of the railway lines. ”

“ They do not disappear until the draw is closed and the signals for a clear track are set. The engineman knew these signals were there, and he knew what they meant. A railroad may supply every safety device known to modern science for precaution, it may put in the perfection of safety appliances for the safety of its passengers and its stock, but you can’t get by the human equation. ”

“ As to filling in between the rails, elsewhere than at the crossing streets, we have to do not merely with the necessities of drainage, but with the safety of persons crossing the railroad tracks midway of the respective street blocks. The power of the state to prescribe precautions with respect to the running of railroad trains so as to guard against injuries to the persons or property of others is not confined to the establishment of such precautions at highway crossings. ”

“ The Railroad Trainman, organ of the brotherhood says:
“Today our men are asking for legislation that is no more of a departure from the beaten path than the safety device legislation of twenty years ago was. They have tried to regulate the car limit of trains and the number of men to be employed on them through their contracts. They have failed in the first instance altogether and for the most part in the other. They realize that, operated as trains are, freight train service is often performed under unsafe conditions. Two men for an unlimited number of cars is the rule for the most part. ”

“ The railroads are struggling all the time to perform their work with less loss and damage to life and property, and few people not in the business realize the vast capital expenditures that should be made in order to equip the railroads with modern safety appliances that help to prevent accidents. ”

“ These men, therefore, deserve the greatest consideration from their employers. The only way to diminish the danger to which they are exposed, is to make better accommodation in the way of shunting room, and provide more men to do it. This would give them time to use the rolling stock with more care, and do away with much of the hurry and violence in shunting. It would save the men’s lives, and save Railway Companies thousands of pounds in expenses for repairs to rolling stock, compensation for accidents, and damage to goods. ”

“ One of the greatest drawbacks in the railway service lies in the risks of accident. The extent of these risks is shown by the General Report of the Board of Trade on Accidents on Railways of the United Kingdom during 1910. ”