You’ve probably seen images of this train derailment in Ohio. These derailments are actually a lot more common than you might think – we’ve had two dozen at least in the US and Canada just in the last 10 years. However, they’re not inevitable. There’s actually a technology that could make these derailments a lot less costly and a lot less frequent.
All of these trains used air pressure braking systems. When the engineer applies the brakes, the air pressure moves sequentially from the head locomotive down to each car a little bit slower than the speed of sound. So the cars in the back of the train still have a lot of forward momentum and they crash into the middle cars causing them to derail.
But about 20 years ago, train companies started testing out a new system – electronically controlled pneumatic or ECP brakes. These systems work by sending their signal electronically through every car on the train at the same time. They move at the speed of light and can reduce a train’s stopping distance by up to 60%.
So why haven’t train companies adopted these newer, safer brakes? Well, no one’s really making them. A government report estimates that it would cost the industry about half a billion dollars. And railroad companies have donated millions of dollars in campaign funds to these politicians to make sure they don’t have to.