Originally Posted by
Excargodog
Not true. Or at least, not totally correct. Passenger rail in the US actually causes a relatively HIGH rate of deaths per passenger mile, although those tend NOT to be passenger deaths. Partly this is due to the rather small total passenger miles by US rail, but Amtrak trains in particular are very commonly involved in crossing fatalities since they travel a good 20-25 miles an hour faster than the freight trains that travel on the same rails.
A few very recent examples:
2 days ago · By City News Service |
[email protected] | PUBLISHED: July 22, 2018 at 11:45 am | UPDATED: July 22, 2018 at 2:00 pm A train struck and killed a pedestrian on tracks just north of Oceanside today ...
Amtrak Strikes Man on Tracks in Montecito - The Santa Barbara Independent
The Santa Barbara Independent › jul › a...
4 days ago · A man was killed this morning on the railroad tracks near Montecito's Olive Mill Road, the Sheriff's Office reported. He'd been struck by the northbound Amtrak at about 6:45 a.m. The train engineer had blown .
......
PWenstrup describes helping injured in fatal train-truck collision - WHIO Tv
https://www.whio.com › news › congress...
3 days ago · One person in the truck was killed and another critically injured, while four people in the train were taken to the hospital, including U.S. Rep. Jason Lewis, R- Minnesota, a staffer and two Amtrak crew
The above is misleading. Passenger rail in the US includes ALL pax transported by rail...u r ONLY talking about Amtrak, and leaving out the systems that carry the most by rail in the US.
Also, the Amtrak system is crap. The US had THE BEST high speed rail network in the world, and then we decided to quit doing it, and switch everyone to automobiles. We don't even have one single high speed rail system in the US. For efficient pax train travel, you need high speed rail. High speed rail uses exclusive tracks (not used also by freight trains) that have no rail/road crossings. If a track has to cross the path of a road, either the rail or roadbed goes over the other mode of travel, thus eliminating the possibility of road/rail collisions.
High speed rail is THE most efficient pax system, from about 150-650 miles in length. Above that air travel is more efficient.