It takes the average freight train traveling 55 mph more than a mile—the length of 18 football fields—to stop. Trains cannot stop quickly. The average locomotive weighs about 400,000 pounds or 200 tons; it can weigh up to 6,000 tons.
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At 30 MPH, it takes about two minutes to clear a crossing. Trains have the right-of-way because they cannot quickly stop for a motorist at crossings or for trespassers on the tracks. The average freight train, traveling at 55 MPH, takes anywhere from 1 to 1½ miles to stop.
By the time a train operator sees you, it is too late to stop the train in time. An oncoming train is moving faster and is closer to you than it appears. Similar to an airplane traveling at 150 mph that appears to float onto the runway, it's hard to determine a train's speed and distance from you.
The middle of the train is by far the safest for persons. The National Transportation Safety Board does not release comprehensive data on where victims were sitting during fatal train accidents, though some details are available in individual investigative reports.
Fact #2: Railroad Tracks Are Private PropertyWalking on train tracks may seem like fun, but it's actually very dangerous, not to mention illegal. All train tracks are private property, so pedestrians should never walk on or near them.
Federal regulators limit the speed of trains with respect to the signaling method used. Passenger trains are limited to 59 mph and freight trains to 49 mph on track without block signal systems. (See dark territory.)
The cost of stopping an lI-car passenger train is three minutes time and $0.5046, while freight train stops cost from $1.70 to $2.30, depending on the type of locomotive, the number of cars, and whether the stop entails any overtime.
The mechanism of an emergency brake may differ, depending on railcar design. Emergency-braking a train (without track brakes) will give about 1.5 m/s2 (0.15 g) deceleration. The braking distance will be approximately 250 m (820 ft) at 100 km/h (62 mph) and 600 m (2,000 ft) at 160 km/h (99 mph).
The Federal Railroad Administration does not currently set any limits on train lengths – and also doesn't regularly track train lengths or their associated risks. That has allowed freight railroad companies to occasionally operate trains up to 8 kilometres (5 miles) long.
When you are in a moving car, train, bus, etc., you are not really sitting idly. Your body is constantly undergoing hundreds of micro bumps and bruises from the constant movement. These add up over the length of the trip, probably into the millions. We interpret these tiny injuries as tiredness.
“People assume that trains are loud, but that assumption is based on the fact that when a train's gone past them in a station it's noisy. That's because the noise a train makes is mainly projected to either side. When trains are moving directly towards you they are barely audible–until it's too late.”
Railroad tracks are private property, not public trails. It's illegal and dangerous to walk on or near tracks unless you're using a designated crossing.
Plane travel is safest, reports Ian Savage, of the Dept. of Economics & Transportation Center at Norwestern University, in the Huff Post Live video clip above. Trains are three times more dangerous than flying but safer than traveling by car (which is 40 times more risky than flying), according to Savage.
Looking at traffic fatalities per mile traveled in the U.S., analyst Todd Litman found that riding commuter or intercity rail is about 20 times safer than driving; riding metro or light rail is about 30 times safer; and riding the bus is about 60 times safer.
Generally, missed train tickets are not valid for later trains. European train tickets are often specific to a particular departure time and date. If you miss your train, you'll typically need to purchase a new ticket for a later departure.