SAFETY IS PRIORITY NUMBER ONE - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 217

Operation Lifesaver
In the early 1970s, the problem of grade-crossing accidents had
reached near epidemic proportions, with collisions occurring at
the rate of one every 45 minutes around the clock. That's when
Operation Lifesaver was started. Operation Lifesaver is a pro-
gram of information and education aimed at reducing the num-
ber of these awful accidents. It's funded by federal, state, and
local governments and the nation's railroads. And it's work-
ing—the number of fatalities has been cut in half, although some
of the credit certainly goes to the railroads, including Amtrak,
for installing warning lights and gates at more and more cross-
ings. State and local governments share in the cost, but improved
safety doesn't come cheap. The average cost of one of these gate
installations comes in at about a quarter million dollars.
Amazingly, in addition to grade-crossing accidents, as many
as 500 people are struck and killed by trains every year while tres-
passing on railroad property. (Technically, that includes railroad
track wherever it might be, whether multiple tracks in a busy
rail yard or a single track passing through Midwest farmland.)
Again, more than a few of these are suicides, but most often it's
just a combination of curiosity and carelessness—people unable
to hear the train because they're listening to loud music through
earphones, for example. Whether it's an auto-train collision or
someone hit while walking too near the track, they're all tough
on the train crews. And every one is avoidable.
More recently, the industry has started a new campaign to
promote safety around railroad tracks. A key element is its Web
site: www.CommonSenseUseIt.com.
Derailments
As the term implies, a derailment occurs when the wheels of one
or more cars come off the rails. A number of things can cause
derailments. If an overheated journal bearing (a hot box) goes