UND Professor George Bibel written another book about transportation disasters, a book about train crashes to follow his "Beyond the Black Box, a book about airplane crashes.
"Train Wreck: The Forensics of Rail Disasters," commissioned by the Johns Hopkins University Press, details the causes and origins of the worst rail disasters. Bibel, who teaches mechanical engineering at UND, also reviews the long and consistent advances in rail safety, some prompted in the aftermath of particularly bad accidents.
Just recently, a coal train derailed in downtown Ellicott City, Md., killing two college students who were sitting on the railroad bridge when the accident occurred, said a news release about the book. In 2011, more than 400 trains derailed on main tracks, down 90 percent from 35 years ago.
"Rail travel is much safer than it was, and safer than most other forms of transportation, certainly more efficient," Bibel said. "Unfortunately, we can't reduce the risks to zero."
Some trains weigh 15,000 tons or more and when they collide or go off the rails, their destructive power is immense. In "Train Wreck," Bibel presents riveting tales of trains gone wrong, the detective work of finding out why, and the safety improvements that were born of tragedy.
