Yet, though the number of all train derailments — not just Amtrak's — have fallen since 1980, they continue, and most are caused by such problems.
Chains break, loads drop, there are crashes and fires and derailments, all pictured with that eerie, stop-motion clarity.
The ultrasonic detector cars also regularly inspect all the tracks, Mr. O'Leary said, and derailments have become rare.
Here's an infographic I made of all the oil spills, leaks and transport derailments in the past 30 days.
Lucien had been at pains to insist on the sense of time, and on these trains that broke all records of derailment, delay, and overcrowding.
Got a ride to Fargo the next day and wanted to get a train but there was a derailment that caused a great ruckus and stopped all the trains up in the yard so we started hitching again or tried to but this time it didn't work.
Federal statistics show that in 2003 there were slightly more derailments than a decade ago, though train accidents over all have been dropping.
As the Examiner reports, "... by 2015, Metro expects that crews will have finished track work to fix safety problems dating back years, including the replacement of all track circuits and the addition of special rails to prevent derailments".
"This trip was more about reattaching all the cars on the train and convincing the other leaders that we're no longer headed for derailment," one of Mr. Obama's senior advisers said in London.
And for all the hand-wringing about dropouts and graduation rates, how many expressions of dismay have we heard about six academic derailments at St .John's, as opposed to the effects of the recent scandal on the poor basketball team?
