Summary Showing Number of Trainmen Killed in Railway Accidents 1889 to 1909, with Ratio to Number Employed.TrainmenTrainmen in YardsYard Trainmen Switching CrewsAll TrainmenNumber of Trainmen for One Killed18891,179——1,17911718901,459——1,45910518911,533——1,53310418921,503——1,50311318931,567——1,56711518941,029——1,02915618951,017——1,01715518961,073——1,0731521897976——97616518981,141——1,14115018991,155——1,15515519001,396——1,39613719011,537——1,53713619021,507——1,50713519032,021——2,02112319041,1814874882,15612019051,1553864932,03413319061,3604005752,33512419071,5074596302,59612519081,0973624961,95515019097892703131,372202
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 AccidentNumber of CollisionsKilledInjuredPassenger and passenger830225Freight and passenger1868374Freight and freight344791Total60145690
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:
CauseNumber of AccidentsNegligence, error or forgetfulness of some member of train crew241Recklessness, carelessness, overlooking or disregarding orders or taking chances233Disobedience53Incompetence or inexperience20Defect of equipment, tires, wheels, etc.64Defect of roadway24Malicious acts27Misadventure, washouts, landslides, cyclones, etc.91Undiscovered41Total794
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."
"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 theirrecord 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:
Class19081901KilledInjuredKilledInjuredPassengers:In accidents to trains—283—476By accidents from other causes1073,1051352,269Total passengers1073,3881352,745Employes:In accidents to trains61648156By accidents from other causes42624,01756814,522Total employes43224,18157614,678Other persons:Accidents to trains—735While passing over railways at level crossings51445526While trespassing on line (including suicides)479118426171Not coming under above classification5974782750Total other persons589916566952Grand total all classes, 19081,12828,4851,27718,375" " " " 19071,21125,975——" " " " 19061,25220,444——" " " " 19051,18018,236——" " " " 19041,15818,802——" " " " 19031,26218,557——" " " " 19021,17117,814——" " " " 19011,27718,375——" " " " 19001,32519,572——" " " " 18991,34019,155——Total, ten years12,294205,415——
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.Three months toOffdutyHours on Duty when Accidents Occurred1st2d3d4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th16th17thSept. 30, 1908120181917152319111117141730010Dec. 31, 190851222341423231614191311850000March 31, 190941416292816171819111215700000June 30, 190911516101915141516241211500000Year 19091161729278697768606554513780010Year 19086601038385778172706357533588000Year 190717086787871645948686243351412531Year 1906652647086638168707161423974302Year 1905352746554716659485356413773301Five years272953993883813513693262963202902301834471144
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.)CountryYearPassengersEmployesOther PersonsTotalPreceding YearUnited Kingdom19081074325871,1281,211Germany19081056046441,3531,558Russia in Europe19052314781,1491,8581,632France1907(a)36322(b)301659627Austria190711147145303213Hungary190732138172343319Italy1907-8(c)42105115262277Spain19072564213302219Portugal1904———55—Sweden1906104557112105Norway1908146119Denmark1907-8(c)12093022Belgium190747270146125Holland1907318254660Switzerland19071445369578Roumania1907-884250100103Totals—6302,5363,5806,8036,595(a) Train accidents only; other accidents to passengers included under "Other Persons."(b) Excluding suicides.(c) Statistics cover State railways only.
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.
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:
MileageFunded DebtStockAtlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic572$18,533,000$35,000,000Alabama Terminal—2,445,0003,000,000Georgia Terminal—3,000,0001,500,000Yellowstone Park32696,000696,000Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis2555,875,0007,350,000Total859$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 theRailroad Age Gazette:
Receiverships Since 1876.RoadsMilesBonds and StockRoadsMilesBonds and Stock1876426,662$467,00018937429,3401,781,0461877383,637220,2941894387,025395,7911878272,32092,3851895314,089369,0751879121,10239,3671896345,441275,597188013885140,2651897181,53792,909188151103,7421898182,069138,70118821291239,0741899101,01952,2851883111,990108,4701900161,16578,23418843711,038714,75519014731,6271885448,836385,460190252785,8351886131,79970,3461903922918,823188791,04690,3181904874436,0691888223,270186,8141905103,593176,3211889223,80399,6641906620455,0421890262,963105,0071907731713,5851891262,15984,4791908248,009596,35918923610,508357,6921909585978,095Total, 34 years712128,498$7,370,526[Three figures omitted in bonds and stock column.]
Nothing in the record of railway development in the United States has increased with the rapidity of the cost of their regulation under the act creating the Interstate Commerce Commission. Since the first Commission, composed of Judge Thomas M. Cooley, of Michigan, chairman, William R. Morrison, of Illinois, Augustus Schoonmaker, of New York, Aldace F. Walker of Vermont, and Walter L. Bragg, of Alabama, Commissioners, and Edward E. Moseley, Secretary, and Prof. Henry C. Adams, Statistician, to date the yearly expenditures on its account have been as follows:
1888FiveCommissioners$97,8671889""149,4531890""180,4401891""214,8441892""221,7451893""217,7921894""209,2501895""216,2061896""234,9411897""234,9091898""237,3581899""238,1251900""243,6241901""255,9791902""271,7281903""298,8421904""321,5331905""330,7391906""382,1411907SevenCommissioners538,8271908""736,5301909""988,936
From this it appears that the cost of regulating American railways has increased tenfold in twenty years. Of this only $34,000 is chargeable to the increase in number and compensation for the Commission under the Hepburn Act. Of the balance it was charged by Representative Adair of Indiana in a speech in Congress last January that $450,000 annually was for "Interstate Commerce Detectives."
In the following review of the mileage and traffic statistics of the principal divisions of Europe and other countries, the information has been derived from the latest official sources wherever available, and where estimates have been resorted to as noted they have been computed from ascertained facts.