They are just reporting them more…
I hear that on a slow day there are at least 2 derailments a day in North American railroad system…
Most the accedents happen in yards while conducting switch moves. (Overrun switches…bad order cars ect.)
Current FRA safety data is only available through Nov 2006, but here are some numbers for Class 1 railroads:
January - November
2003 2004 2005 2005 2006
Main 709 737 729 672 612
Yard 1399 1601 1502 1379 1099
All 2393 2662 2563 2355 2005
“All” includes sidings and industry.
So, that makes about 2 accidents a day on main track alone.
The drive-by media is reporting them in a way that is,well…[censored][:(!]. They are out to strip our right to [censored][censored][censored][censored][censored]!