Photos: A Terrifying Train Derailment Occurred in Hereford, Texas

A train derailment was reported to have occurred in Hereford on Wednesday, August 17th, 2022. The incident happened in the early morning hours.

According to MyHighPlains, the derailment took place in the area of Highway 60 and Road DD around 5 a.m. Officials with BNSF Railway confirmed that 17 freight train cars were involved in the accident. There have been no reports of injuries to the train crew. The exact cause of the derailment is currently under investigation.

According to Wikipedia, train derailments can be caused by a number of things such as mechanical failures of the track, collision with another object on the track, failure of the train's wheels, operational errors, etc.

A study reported by Vox in 2015 said that the majority of train derailments cause no injuries or deaths, and typically only damage the cargo aboard the train cars. The US doesn't have many passenger trains, which may account for fewer injuries.

It's still much safer to travel by train than it is by ferry, car and motorcycle. The airplane is the only mode of transportation that's safer on average. A report in 2009 shows that someone was 17 times more likely to die in an automobile accident than on a train. Derailment incidents have also dropped significantly since the 1980s.

The Hill reports an average number of 1,704 derailments per year, which vary in severity. Texas actually ranks number one in train derailments as of July 13th, 2022. Luckily, this particular incident in Hereford didn't injure anyone. That's definitely something to be grateful for.