High winds can blow railway trains off tracks and cause accidents.
Dangers of high winds
High winds can cause problems in a number of ways:
- blow trains off the tracks
- blow trains or wagons along the tracks and cause collisions
- cause cargo to blow off trains which can damage objects outside the railway or which other trains can collide with
- cause pantographs and overhead wiring to tangle
- cause trees and other objects to fall onto the railway.
Preventative measures
Risks from high winds can be reduced by:
- wind fences akin to snow sheds
- lower profile of carriages
- lowered centre of gravity of vehicles
- reduction in train speed or cancellation, at high winds
- a wider rail gauge
- improve overhead wiring with:
- regulated tension rather than fixed terminations
- shorter catenary spans
- solid conductors
By country
Australia
- 1928 â 47 wagons blown along line at Tocumwal
- 1931 â Kandos â wind blows level crossing gates closed in front of motor-cyclist
- 1943 â Hobart, Tasmania; Concern that wind will blow over doubledeck trams on gauge if top deck enclosed.
- 2010 â Marla, South Australia; Small tornado blows over train.
Austria
- 1910 â Trieste (now in Italy) â train blown down embankment.
China
Denmark
Germany
India
- One reason for choosing broad gauge in India for greater stability in high winds.
Ireland
Japan
New Zealand
Norway
South Africa
- Wind tangles overhead wiring in Cape Town, 2012.
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
- On 24 April 1883, 2 cars of a passenger train were blown from the narrow-gauge Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad tracks near Como, Colorado, with only minor injuries.
- Around 6:15pm, 6 May 1876, a passenger train traveling south on the Illinois Central Railroad at about 23 miles per hour was derailed during a storm just south of Neoga, Illinois. Numerous minor injuries were reported.
- Around 7am, 23 Feb. 1884, 2 cars were blown off the narrow-gauge tracks of the Colorado Central Railroad near Georgetown, Colorado.
- Around 2pm, 4 February 1885, the wind overturned an entire 3-car Colorado Central Railroad train just east of Georgetown, Colorado. The express train had slowed to 8 miles per hour because of the wind. 18 out of 20 passengers were injured.
- At 3:30pm, 1 April 1892, a narrow-gauge passenger train of the Burlington and Northwestern Railway was blown off the tracks while running at full speed 1 mile east of Butler, a station between Fremont, Iowa and Hedrick, Iowa.; 4 were seriously injured, a dozen more suffered minor injuries. Note that the location places this on the Burlington and Western Railway tracks.
- On 2 September 1911, tram services in Charleston, South Carolina, were suspended due to winds.
- On 28 June 1986, a derecho derailed 18 piggyback cars on the Kate Shelley High Bridge over the Des Moines River in Iowa.
- On 29 June 1998, the Corn Belt Derecho blew several double stack and piggyback cars off the Iowa Interstate Railroad bridge across the Iowa River.
- A 2008 tornado in Northern Illinois derailed a Union Pacific train. Dramatic footage of the event was captured by a camera mounted on the train.
- On 27 April 2015, a severe storm knocked several double stack cars off the track as a train crossed the Huey P. Long Bridge, New Orleans, Louisiana, with no injuries. The accident was captured by a WGNO News Team dashcam.
- On 13 March 2019, mid-day winds of around 80 mph derailed the rear 26 cars of a double stack train on the Union Pacific high steel trestle over the Canadian River south of Logan, New Mexico.
One reason for choosing broad gauge (17% wider than standard gauge) for BART was the greater stability in high winds and perhaps earthquakes.
Factors
- Lightweight trains
- Narrow gauge
- Aspects of the terrain
- Tunnels
See also
References