Railroad Safety Awareness: What Everyone Needs to Know About Train Crossings and Derailments

Railroads play a vital role in our economy and daily lives, but they also come with serious safety risks that many people fail to understand. Every year, hundreds of accidents occur at train crossings, and many of these tragedies are avoidable. To ensure everyone stays safe around railroad tracks, here are some essential tips, rules, and sobering facts that you may not know.

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🚨 1. If Your Vehicle is Stuck on the Tracks, Follow This Life-Saving Protocol

• Get Everyone Out of the Vehicle Immediately — Your life is more important than your car.
• Look for the Blue Sign — Near every public railroad crossing, there’s a small blue sign beneath the flashing red lights or crossbucks (the "X" shaped signs). It has a phone number and a unique crossing location ID.
• Call the Emergency Number — Tell the dispatcher the exact crossing number and report the emergency. Railroad dispatchers can stop trains, but they need this precise information to act quickly.
  Time is critical. Trains cannot stop on a dime, and they may not be able to see your vehicle in time to avoid a collision.

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🚉 2. Positive Train Control (PTC) – What It Does and Doesn't Do

Many people mistakenly believe that train crews have superhuman visibility of everything happening on the tracks. This is false.

• PTC (Positive Train Control) is a technological system that warns train crews about upcoming trains, track issues, and work zones but NOT vehicles on crossings.
• Train crews rely on direct visibility to see vehicles or people on the tracks. Since trains travel at high speeds, crews often don’t have enough time to react once they spot an obstruction.

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🚦 3. Trains Do Not Speed – Here's Why

Contrary to popular belief, train engineers do not "floor it" like cars on highways. Trains have strict speed limits that crews must follow.

• If a train exceeds the speed limit by as little as 5 MPH, the conductor and engineer face serious consequences.
• With PTC in place, if the train detects speeding, it will automatically engage the brakes and stop the train. If this happens, the crew could face suspension, termination, or retraining.

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🚨 4. Why Trains Don't Always Use Emergency Brakes for Vehicles on Crossings

If you’ve ever wondered, "Why didn’t the train just stop when it saw the car on the tracks?" here’s the answer:

• Trains don't always apply emergency brakes immediately when a car is on the tracks because sudden emergency stops can cause derailments, especially if the train is carrying hazardous cargo.
• If a train derails, it can destroy rail infrastructure, cause environmental hazards, and endanger entire communities.
• Crews are trained to apply emergency brakes only when it’s clear the vehicle will not move in time. This decision happens in seconds.
• Applying the brakes too soon could backfire if the vehicle manages to move off the tracks, but now the train is stopped, potentially causing delays for thousands of other trains and passengers.

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⚠️ 5. Train Speeds Are Reduced in Cities, But Not for the Reason You Think

People often wonder why trains seem to move slower in cities than in rural areas. While city tracks have speed limits to protect pedestrians, the real reason is more concerning:

• People don't stop for trains.
• To reduce the risk of collisions at crossings, speed limits are lower in urban areas, where foot traffic and impatient drivers are more likely to ignore crossing gates.
• Trains are held to a higher standard of caution than pedestrians and motorists — even though cars and people are expected to yield to trains at crossings.

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🛑 6. Every Railroad Worker Has a Story of Tragedy

Train engineers, conductors, and rail workers live with a burden few people understand.

• At some point, most railroad workers will be involved in an accident where a person or vehicle is struck.
• In many cases, it's not just one tragic incident — some workers experience this multiple times throughout their careers.
• Watching someone die due to a preventable decision — like trying to "beat the train" — takes a heavy psychological toll on workers. Imagine living with that for the rest of your life.
• Every crossing accident is an emotional and mental burden on train crews. While the public may blame them for "not stopping," the truth is that they simply didn’t have enough time.

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❌ 7. Do Not Play 'Frogger' With Trains — You Will Lose

If you remember the video game Frogger, you might recall the goal was to cross a busy road without being hit. People treat train crossings the same way, but this is not a game.

• Many people think they can “make it” before the train passes — but you are gambling with your life.
• Trains are much faster than they appear. The optical illusion of a large, distant train gives people the false sense that they have time. You don’t.
• A train weighing thousands of tons cannot stop like a car. It takes over 1 mile to stop a fully loaded train traveling at 55 MPH.

If you think your time is too valuable to wait, think again. Your life is worth more than 5-10 minutes of patience.

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📊 Key Railroad Safety Statistics

• 2,000+ train-vehicle collisions happen each year in the U.S. (Source: FRA)
• 200-300 deaths annually are caused by people or vehicles on the tracks.
• Most train-related fatalities are preventable, as they are caused by people driving around lowered gates, ignoring flashing lights, or trespassing on tracks.
• Trains weighing thousands of tons require over a mile to stop, and at no point does "hitting the gas" help you win the race against a train.

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🚀 Takeaway: Trains Are Faster, Heavier, and More Dangerous Than You Think

If there’s one message to take away from this, it’s this: Don’t play with trains.

• When crossing arms lower, STOP.
• If your car is stuck on the tracks, GET OUT and CALL THE EMERGENCY NUMBER on the blue sign.
• Your life is more valuable than the inconvenience of waiting for a train to pass.
• Every time you think you can "make it" across, you’re putting yourself, train crews, and your community at risk.

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🛡️ Be Part of the Solution, Not the Problem

Train derailments and crossing collisions don’t have to happen. When you follow the rules and stay alert around train tracks, you protect yourself, your community, and the mental well-being of train crews. If you have children, teach them to respect railroad crossings and never try to "race" a train.

It’s better to be late than to be gone forever.

If this message resonates with you, share it with your friends, family, and community. Awareness saves lives.