route_rock,
Please note that at 6:40pm CST, Nov. 21, 2006, I deleted one of your postings, as it was a double post and therefore extranious. I have NOT, however, modified any of the content of the remaining post. It is still as you posted it.
James,
Not being a BNSF employee (not that I wouldn't mind it, but there's no way I'll ever be hired there) or an inspector for the FRA, NSTSB, DOT or any other "alphabet soup" government agency that investigates railroad accidents, I can't say what's up.
My commentary on statistics and/or having a "bad/off month" is just a random fact of life. Sometimes, even the safest factory will have a period where there are an unusually high number of accidents. Part of an old proverb states, "To error is human," and whenever there is something wherever humans are involved, there will be mistakes made (and yes, computers and machinery tends to screw up from time to time as well).
So, they're having a not-so-good period right now. Is it a short-term, or a long-term thing? I don't know (I'm not a statistician/mathemitician). Did they have a recent hiring spree and have a lot of "green" employees who are learning the job ("newbies" are usually prone to making mistakes in the process of learning new jobs)? Are there a number of employees working under the influence of colds and flus (I've read on the boards here and there that there are no such things as "sick days" on the railroad)? Or is it just a statistical anomoly that they're experiencing an exponentially high number of accidents at the moment? Karma, mayhapse? For the number of months with a relatively low number of accidents, now they're experiencing a month or two of above-average mishaps? Could it be that these incidents are getting an above-average amount of "press" for some odd reason or another?
The world wonders.
I can't say what the problem is and therefore am not going to pass judgement on the railroad and/or its employees for the time being.
... Unless this becomes a chronic state of affairs.
