Amtrak train derails: News and updates on the crash

In the wake of Tuesday’s Amtrak derailment, it’s worth comparing the safety of trains versus other modes of travel. Though train accidents are terrifying — and get lots of public attention when they occur — the truth is that traveling by train is much, much safer than by car.

The seven deaths that occurred during the recent derailment might change this, but only slightly. Though the rare train accidents and plane crashes that do occur get way more coverage, about 80 people die on US roads every single day — and on a per-mile basis, riding on a train or plane is much safer than in a car.

After an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia, killing at least 7 and injuring 200, many people started wondering: Why don’t trains have seat belts?

Some experts even raised the issue. “This has long been a concern,” said Deborah Hersman, former head of the National Transportation Safety Board, in an appearance on Fox & Friends. “When you look at the environment on trains, they aren’t required to restrain passengers, luggage.”

“While we don’t know the cause of this accident, we do know that starving rail of funding will not enable safer train travel,” said Rep. Nita Lowey of New York.

The juxtaposition of a deadly passenger train derailment with a US House of Representatives vote to slash $100 million from Amtrak’s budget naturally has people talking. To proponents of a big boost in US infrastructure spending, the disaster seems like a great illustration of the need to spend more.

At the same time, it’s natural for skeptics to ask if more money really would have fixed the problem. Based on what we know so far, it looks like the answer is yes — it very possibly could have, though it would have to have been spent on the right thing, which wouldn’t necessarily have been Amtrak’s top use of extra money.

In a review of train safety in the United States, Joseph Stromberg notes that track failure is the number-one cause of train accidents:

The chart shows the exact breakdown of what caused train accidents from January 2000 to February 2015, and also hints that it’s a bad idea for anyone to assume the cause of any train accident before the analysis comes in. The causes are a mixed bag — with human error coming second to track failure. Continue reading more facts about train accidents.

The derailment of an Amtrak train Tuesday night in Philadelphia has killed at least six people and injured dozens more.

We still don’t know the cause of the accident. But we do know some basic facts about train safety that can help put it in context.

Any time there’s a deadly train accident or plane crash in the news, there are always people ready to point out that driving is actually a far, far more dangerous way to travel:

Statistically, this is true. But then why do train accidents and plane crashes seem so much scarier — so much more unnerving? Why does the risk of dying in a train or plane loom so much larger in our imaginations, even if the odds are technically lower?