The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-02-22
RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.
Great Britain Results Compared With
the Record in America.

tne RECORD IN America.
"The most-talked-of fact in connec.
ton with the railroad accident rec.
ords of the last few years." writes the
Railroad Gazette, ''is that the rail.
roads of Great Britain and Ireland
were worked for fifteen months (end-
ing with March, 1902, without caus-
ing the death of passenger in a
collision or derailment. This Is re-
markable record, indicating sound
structures, correct methods, efficient
men and good discipline. Comparing
1t with the record in America, we
cannot avoid self-reproach. But it
must be borne in mind that this one
item Is not the whole thing the,
Vandalia Line Indianapolis to- st.
Louis, 242 miles,, has killed only one
passenger in train accident in SO
years; and that accident did not be-
long to the class that causes our pres
ent eproach-collisions it was a de-
railment, due to a broken rail. This
fact was stated recently by an Off
tNi vi buC Ndhuoild DClole tiiC ~
Louis Railway club. At the same time
the Vandalia has had collisions, like
other single-track roads. The English
lines had some train accidents in their
fifteen months record referred to, and
have killed passengers since then.
1--WE shall not in this place take the
readers time to elaborate the reason
ing from these facts; many of the con-
clusions are obvious. The question of
safety in railroad travel is not to be
settled by newspaper article or two.
This Vandalia record, and that of the
Albany and Susquehanna, referred to
recently, bring out another phase of
the subject; the difference in the dan
ger on single-track roads with light or
moderate traffic as compared with
doublt-track lines with heavy or
crowded traffic. In the statement con-
cerning the Albany and. Susquehanna
attention was called to the fact that
comparison of passengers killed in
proportion to the number carried
would show that that roads record to |
be much better than the English rec
ord. BY taking sufficiently long term
of years a short road in the thinly
settled parts of New York state can
be compared with single year on
the thousands of miles of roads in the
densest parts of England. A state
ment of similar import has been pub
lished in Chicago concerning the ac-
cident record on the Southern Pacific
for recent period. Finding that the
average deaths and injuries per train
mile equal only one-half the average
per train mile in the whole United
states, and assuming that this differ
ence is due to the good discipline of
the Southern Pacific, the conclusion
is offered that If the rest of the roads
of the country would adopt Southern
Pacific discipline the casualties every
where would be reduced one-half!
Here, again, we leave the reader to
draw his own conclusions. Just how
much a passenger gains in safety on
a line where there is only one train
a day, as compared with four-track
line that is constantly crowded, no
one can calculate but that the differ
ence is enough to completely vitiate
such comparisons as this which comes
from Chicago is too patent to need
stating. 1t is not to be supposed that
the management Of the Southern Pa
cific fathers these comparisons; but
some railroad men do seem to imag-
inc that comfort can be got out of that |
kind of arithmetic, hence this notice
Of the matter. All these various So
phistries make no difference with the |
central facts: That large numbers of
deaths are caused on American rail-
roads by collisions, and that the COLI
sons, occurring by the hundreds ev-
cry year, are due to causes which in |
very large measure can be quickly |
done away with, and at moderate
cost"