The Railway Library, 1909 A Collection of Noteworthy Chapters, Addresses, and Papers Relating to Railways, Mostly Published During the Year

Part 42

Chapter 422,791 wordsPublic domain

==========+===================+====================+=================== | Passengers Killed | Passengers Carried | Passengers Carried Year | in | One Mile | One Mile | Train Accidents | | to One Killed ----------+-------------------+--------------------+------------------- 1909 | 131(a) | 29,452,000,000 | 288,745,100 1908 | 165(b) | 29,082,836,944 | 196,505,648 1907 | 410 | 27,718,554,030 | 72,802,600 1906 | 182 | 25,167,240,831 | 183,702,488 1905 | 350 | 23,800,149,436 | 68,000,427 1904 | 270 | 21,923,213,536 | 81,197,087 1903 | 164 | 20,915,763,881 | 127,535,745 1902 | 170 | 19,689,937,620 | 115,823,162 1901 | 110 | 17,353,588,444 | 157,759,894 1900 | 93 | 16,038,076,200 | 172,463,183 1899 | 83 | 14,591,327,613 | 175,799,127 1898 | 74 | 13,379,930,004 | 180,809,864 1897 | 96 | 12,256,939,647 | 127,676,454 1896 | 41 | 13,049,007,233 | 318,268,469 1895 | 30 | 12,188,446,271 | 406,281,542 1894 | 162 | 14,289,445,893 | 88,206,456 1893 | 100 | 14,229,101,084 | 142,291,010 1892 | 195 | 13,362,898,299 | 68,522,555 1891 | 110 | 12,844,243,881 | 116,765,853 1890 | 113 | 11,847,785,617 | 104,847,660 1889 | 161 | 11,553,820,445 | 71,762,859 ----------+-------------------+--------------------+-------------------

(a) Of these only 102 were passengers in the ordinary sense of the term.

(b) Of these only 148 were passengers in the ordinary sense of the term.

The student has to go back to the years of continued business paralysis, 1895 and 1896, to find any record of immunity to passengers from fatalities in train accidents at all comparable with the conditions that prevailed in 1909.

DECREASED HAZARD TO TRAIN CREWS.

Never in the history of American railways has the occupation of the men directly engaged in the operation of trains been as free from fatalities as during the year 1909. This is proved by the following statement showing the number of trainmen killed in all descriptions of accidents since the figures have been compiled, with the ratio to the number employed:

SUMMARY SHOWING NUMBER OF TRAINMEN KILLED IN RAILWAY ACCIDENTS 1889 TO 1909, WITH RATIO TO NUMBER EMPLOYED.

==========+==========+==========+===========+==========+========== | | | Yard | | Number of | Trainmen | Trainmen | Trainmen | All | Trainmen | | in Yards | Switching | Trainmen | for One | | | Crews | | Killed ----------+----------+----------+-----------+----------+---------- 1889 | 1,179 | | | 1,179 | 117 1890 | 1,459 | | | 1,459 | 105 1891 | 1,533 | | | 1,533 | 104 1892 | 1,503 | | | 1,503 | 113 1893 | 1,567 | | | 1,567 | 115 1894 | 1,029 | | | 1,029 | 156 1895 | 1,017 | | | 1,017 | 155 1896 | 1,073 | | | 1,073 | 152 1897 | 976 | | | 976 | 165 1898 | 1,141 | | | 1,141 | 150 1899 | 1,155 | | | 1,155 | 155 1900 | 1,396 | | | 1,396 | 137 1901 | 1,537 | | | 1,537 | 136 1902 | 1,507 | | | 1,507 | 135 1903 | 2,021 | | | 2,021 | 123 1904 | 1,181 | 487 | 488 | 2,156 | 120 1905 | 1,155 | 386 | 493 | 2,034 | 133 1906 | 1,360 | 400 | 575 | 2,335 | 124 1907 | 1,507 | 459 | 630 | 2,596 | 125 1908 | 1,097 | 362 | 496 | 1,955 | 150 1909 | 789 | 270 | 313 | 1,372 | 202 ----------+----------+----------+-----------+----------+----------

The figures of the Interstate Commerce Commission have only made the division of trainmen shown above since 1904. Here again the last column proves the relation of accidents to the ebb and flow of traffic.

FREIGHT TRAFFIC AND ACCIDENTS.

The preponderating part played by the immense freight traffic of American railways as a cause of accidents is shown in the following analysis of the sixty "prominent collisions" described in the Commission's quarterly Accident Bulletins for the year 1909:

=================================+============+========+======== Kind of Train in Accident | Number of | Killed | Injured | Collisions | | ---------------------------------+------------+--------+-------- Passenger and passenger | 8 | 30 | 225 Freight and passenger | 18 | 68 | 374 Freight and freight | 34 | 47 | 91 +------------+--------+-------- Total | 60 | 145 | 690 ---------------------------------+------------+--------+--------

Here it will be observed freight trains were involved in 86.6% of the prominent collisions of the year and shared in responsibility for 79.3% of the fatalities. The proportion of injured in accidents to freight trains is not so great for the obvious reason that the number of persons exposed in collisions involving only freight trains is generally limited to train crews.

CAUSES OF TRAIN ACCIDENTS.

An examination of the causes given for the prominent collisions and derailments in the Accident Bulletins of the Commission since the passage of the Act of March 3, 1901, requiring the railway companies to make full monthly reports of all accidents affords the following general statement:

Among the prominent derailments charged against the railways in the Bulletin for April, May and June, 1909, is the following, resulting in one killed and three injured.

"Automobile running on track, derailed by running over a dog, one guest killed."

Through the inclusion in these Bulletins of accidents on trolley lines, their value as records of railway accidents is being greatly impaired. Without any information as to the number of passengers carried by the electric cars it is impossible to arrive at an accurate idea of the relation of accidents to traffic, and without this the mere record of accidents has little information value.

ACCIDENTS ON BRITISH RAILWAYS.

For a second time in their history, in the year ending December 31, 1908, British railways went through a twelvemonth without killing a single passenger in a train accident, thus paralleling their record of 1901 in this respect. In the matter of passengers injured, the year 1908 showed a remarkable improvement, not only over 1901 but over any other year in the history of British railways. When it comes to the totals of casualties, however, 1908 shows little variation from the average record.

The following table shows the total number of persons killed and injured in the working of British railways, as reported to the Board of Trade for the calendar year 1908 as compared with 1901:

======================================+================+=============== | 1908 | 1901 Class +-------+--------+-------+------- |Killed |Injured |Killed |Injured --------------------------------------+-------+--------+-------+------- Passengers: | | | | In accidents to trains | -- | 283 | -- | 476 By accidents from other causes | 107 | 3,105 | 135 | 2,269 +-------+--------+-------+-------- Total passengers | 107 | 3,388 | 135 | 2,745 | | | | Employes: | | | | In accidents to trains | 6 | 164 | 8 | 156 By accidents from other causes | 426 | 24,017 | 568 | 14,522 +-------+--------+-------+-------- Total employes | 432 | 24,181 | 576 | 14,678 | | | | Other persons: | | | | Accidents to trains | -- | 7 | 3 | 5 While passing over railways at | | | | level crossings | 51 | 44 | 55 | 26 While trespassing on line | | | | (including suicides) | 479 | 118 | 426 | 171 Not coming under above | | | | classification | 59 | 747 | 82 | 750 +-------+--------+-------+-------- Total other persons | 589 | 916 | 566 | 952 | | | | Grand total all classes, 1908 | 1,128 | 28,485 | 1,277 | 18,375 " " " " 1907 | 1,211 | 25,975 | | " " " " 1906 | 1,252 | 20,444 | | " " " " 1905 | 1,180 | 18,236 | | " " " " 1904 | 1,158 | 18,802 | | " " " " 1903 | 1,262 | 18,557 | | " " " " 1902 | 1,171 | 17,814 | | " " " " 1901 | 1,277 | 18,375 | | " " " " 1900 | 1,325 | 19,572 | | " " " " 1899 | 1,340 | 19,155 | | +-------+--------+-------+-------- Total, ten years |12,294 |205,415 | | --------------------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------

As one year of traffic on American railways approximates ten years on British railways, the above totals for ten years on the latter may be compared with 8769 killed and 73,052 injured on the former last year, or with 11,839 killed and 111,016 injured in 1907, the darkest year in the annals of American railway accidents.

Attention is asked to the apparently startling increase in injuries on British railways since 1905. The increase is absolutely fictitious, having resulted from "a change in the definition of a reportable accident," and not from any greater hazard in the working of British roads. This confirms the objection, expressed in the report of the British Board of Trade in 1903, to any changes in the form of tables extending over a long series of years that "admit of comparisons, which any change of form would invalidate if not destroy."

It will be perceived that the mere change in the definition of what constitutes a reportable accident increased the number of injuries reported against British railways fully 50%. This justifies the writer's view that comparisons of injuries in railway accidents are of little value. Even the same injury does not affect two persons in the same degree. One "hollers" and cries for a doctor where the other whistles and goes on with his work.

The inquiries of the Board of Trade into the causes of British railway accidents in 1908 confirm former findings that, exclusive of train accidents, in the case of passengers "they mostly arise from carelessness of the passengers themselves," and the same is true of the vast majority of accidents to employes.

OVERWORK AND RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

At last the statistics of the British Board of Trade furnish what well nigh amounts to demonstration that long hours play very little part as an actual cause of railway accidents. Under the statute the Board requires reports of all instances of periods of duty in excess of twelve hours worked on British railways. For the month of October, 1908, the returns show 31,052 excess hours worked out of 2,773,891; and for October, 1909, 24,486 out of 2,695,036, or an excess of 1.12% in 1908 and .92%, in 1909.

Now, out of 861 accidents investigated in 1908, only 16, or 1.85%, occurred to men working in excess of 12 hours; and out of 804 investigated in 1909 only 9, or 1.12%. This bears out the opinion of a high English official, that experience "does not show any close connection between long hours and accidents."

The following statement shows the relation of accidents to the hours the persons involved have been on duty on British railways for a period of five years:

HOURS WHEN BRITISH ACCIDENTS OCCUR.

====================================================================== | | Hours on Duty when Accidents Occurred Three months |Off +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- to |duty| 1st| 2d | 3d | 4th| 5th| 6th| 7th| 8th| 9th|10th ---------------|----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- Sept. 30, 1908 | 1 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 23 | 19 | 11 | 11 | 17 Dec. 31, 1908 | 5 | 12 | 22 | 34 | 14 | 23 | 23 | 16 | 14 | 19 | 13 March 31, 1909 | 4 | 14 | 16 | 29 | 28 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 11 | 12 June 30, 1909 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 19 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 24 | 12 ---------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- Year 1909 | 11 | 61 | 72 | 92 | 78 | 69 | 77 | 68 | 60 | 65 | 54 Year 1908 | 6 | 60 |103 | 83 | 85 | 77 | 81 | 72 | 70 | 63 | 57 Year 1907 | 1 | 70 | 86 | 78 | 78 | 71 | 64 | 59 | 48 | 68 | 62 Year 1906 | 6 | 52 | 64 | 70 | 86 | 63 | 81 | 68 | 70 | 71 | 61 Year 1905 | 3 | 52 | 74 | 65 | 54 | 71 | 66 | 59 | 48 | 53 | 56 ---------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- Five years | 27 |295 |399 |388 |381 |351 |369 |326 |296 |320 |290 ---------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----

{table continued} ============================================================== | | Hours on Duty when Accidents Occurred Three months |Off +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- to |duty| 11th| 12th| 13th| 14th| 15th| 16th| 17th ---------------|----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- Sept. 30, 1908 | 1 | 14 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 Dec. 31, 1908 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 March 31, 1909 | 4 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 June 30, 1909 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 ---------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- Year 1909 | 11 | 51 | 37 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 Year 1908 | 6 | 53 | 35 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 Year 1907 | 1 | 43 | 35 | 14 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 1 Year 1906 | 6 | 42 | 39 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 Year 1905 | 3 | 41 | 37 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 ---------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- Five years | 27 | 230 | 183 | 44 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 4 ---------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

It will be observed that out of these 3,945 accidents investigated and reported on by British inspectors during the years 1905 to 1909, inclusive, a majority happened during the first half of the twelve hours for which the men were booked and 2.28% when they were working overtime. In no instance was the accident attributed to long hours.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS IN EUROPE.

Excluding the returns of injured, for the reason that no two countries have a common definition of a reportable injury, the accidents on European railways, according to the latest reports, resulted in the following fatalities:

KILLED IN EUROPEAN RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

(Total mileage represented 182,459.)

+--------+----------+--------+-------+-------+--------- Country | Year |Passengers|Employes| Other | Total |Preceding | | | |Persons| | Year -----------------+--------+----------+--------+-------+-------+--------- United Kingdom | 1908 | 107 | 432 | 587 | 1,128 | 1,211 Germany | 1908 | 105 | 604 | 644 | 1,353 | 1,558 Russia in Europe | 1905 | 231 | 478 | 1,149 | 1,858 | 1,632 France | 1907 | (a)36 | 322 |(b)301 | 659 | 627 Austria | 1907 | 11 | 147 | 145 | 303 | 213 Hungary | 1907 | 32 | 138 | 172 | 343 | 319 Italy | 1907-8 | (c)42 | 105 | 115 | 262 | 277 Spain | 1907 | 25 | 64 | 213 | 302 | 219 Portugal | 1904 | | | | 55 | Sweden | 1906 | 10 | 45 | 57 | 112 | 105 Norway | 1908 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 9 Denmark | 1907-8 | (c)1 | 20 | 9 | 30 | 22 Belgium | 1907 | 4 | 72 | 70 | 146 | 125 Holland | 1907 | 3 | 18 | 25 | 46 | 60 Switzerland | 1907 | 14 | 45 | 36 | 95 | 78 Roumania | 1907-8 | 8 | 42 | 50 | 100 | 103 +--------+----------+--------+-------+-------+-------- Totals | | 630 | 2,536 | 3,580 | 6,803 | 6,595 -----------------+--------+----------+--------+-------+-------+--------

(a) Train accidents only; other accidents to passengers included under "Other Persons."

(b) Excluding suicides.

These figures, representing a European mileage of 182,459, may be compared with those of the United States in 1897 when it had 183,284 miles of line and an accident record of 222 fatalities to passengers, 1,693 to employes and 4,522 to other persons; or even with the American record for 1909, when with a mileage 27% greater the record stood 335 fatalities to passengers, 2,456 to employes and 5,978 to other persons. The excess of fatalities to other persons in this country is due to the notorious indifference to danger and law of all classes of citizens in using railway right of way as a common thoroughfare for adults and playground for children. Despite the elevation of the tracks in Chicago, the writer has seen scores of youngsters scarcely able to walk playing on those raised tracks and laughing at the locomotives as they went shrieking by.

In all comparisons of accidents on American railways with those on foreign roads, it should be remembered that our excess of mileage and freight traffic more than balance their density of passenger traffic and that nowhere else on earth is railway right of way common to foolhardy pedestrians and creeping children.

The Railroad Commission of Indiana is to be commended for its efforts to enlist public sentiment against trespassing on railway tracks.

XIII

RAILWAY RECEIVERSHIPS IN 1909

Only five railway companies, operating 859 miles of line, went into the hands of receivers during the calendar year 1909, as compared with 24 companies, operating 8,009 miles, for the preceding year. The capitalization of these five roads was $78,095,000, against $596,359,000 for those financially involved in 1908. The following statement gives the names, mileage, funded debt and capital stock of the roads for which receivers were appointed in 1909:

===============================+=========+=============+============ | Mileage | Funded Debt | Stock -------------------------------+---------+-------------+------------ Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic | 572 | $18,533,000 | $35,000,000 Alabama Terminal | -- | 2,445,000 | 3,000,000 Georgia Terminal | -- | 3,000,000 | 1,500,000 Yellowstone Park | 32 | 696,000 | 696,000 Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis | 255 | 5,875,000 | 7,350,000 -------------------------------+---------+-------------+------------ Total | 859 | $30,549,000 | $47,546,000 -------------------------------+---------+-------------+------------

The number, mileage and capitalization of the railways that have failed since 1875 are as follows, the figures being from the _Railroad Age Gazette_:

RECEIVERSHIPS SINCE 1876.

=====+=======+=========+=========== | | | Bonds and | Roads | Miles | Stock -----+-------+---------+----------- 1876 | 42 | 6,662 | $467,000 1877 | 38 | 3,637 | 220,294 1878 | 27 | 2,320 | 92,385 1879 | 12 | 1,102 | 39,367 1880 | 13 | 885 | 140,265 1881 | 5 | 110 | 3,742 1882 | 12 | 912 | 39,074 1883 | 11 | 1,990 | 108,470 1884 | 37 | 11,038 | 714,755 1885 | 44 | 8,836 | 385,460 1886 | 13 | 1,799 | 70,346 1887 | 9 | 1,046 | 90,318 1888 | 22 | 3,270 | 186,814 1889 | 22 | 3,803 | 99,664 1890 | 26 | 2,963 | 105,007 1891 | 26 | 2,159 | 84,479 1892 | 36 | 10,508 | 357,692 1893 | 74 | 29,340 | 1,781,046 1894 | 38 | 7,025 | 395,791 1895 | 31 | 4,089 | 369,075 1896 | 34 | 5,441 | 275,597 1897 | 18 | 1,537 | 92,909 1898 | 18 | 2,069 | 138,701 1899 | 10 | 1,019 | 52,285 1900 | 16 | 1,165 | 78,234 1901 | 4 | 73 | 1,627 1902 | 5 | 278 | 5,835 1903 | 9 | 229 | 18,823 1904 | 8 | 744 | 36,069 1905 | 10 | 3,593 | 176,321 1906 | 6 | 204 | 55,042 1907 | 7 | 317 | 13,585 1908 | 24 | 8,009 | 596,359 1909 | 5 | 859 | 78,095 -----+-------+---------+----------- Total, 34 years | | 712 | 128,498 | $7,370,526 -----+-------+---------+-----------