Step over the rail, not on it. Why?

A railhead is essentially polished steel.  Polished steel = slippery.  Worse if wet from water or oil.  It's also a narrow arced surface which adds to the problem and there's nothing to grab onto if you lose your balance.  Plus impact with ties, rail and/or ballast is not a soft landing.  Serious injury may ensue, worse if a train is coming.

Rusty

Thanks! That was my guess, but I never actually heard the explanation for the rule...

My grandpa always told me to never step on them because it wasn't safe, and as a railroad employee, on some roads, it was grounds for termination.  Now it's habit for me such that I get after my kids for stepping on the rails in static displays and in parks that have smaller trains.

I never knew this...thanks!

Step on a "track"

Break your mother's back

Old railroad saying

For what it's worth, that is one of the dead give-aways to the professional railroader of a "fan" on the property, i.e. stepping ON the rail head instead of over it. 

Hmmmm, and when I was a kid hanging around the station, and even later as an

adult, I have rope-walked, teetering,  along the top of one for some distance, although I do remember that they are slick and you can fall off easily.  Because they are slick,

I usually just step over them now.  Of course, I have not been in an area of electrified

rail...and isn't there some of that in subways or somewhere?

Electrified rail? Surely you are joking.

It's in the rulebook. You don't question the rules.

From GCOR;

S-13.0 On or Near Tracks, Locomotives and Rail Cars
S-13.1 General Requirements
S-13.1.3 Tracks
A. When crossing tracks:
Do not cross within 25 feet of the end of standing equipment.
Do not cross in front of approaching equipment, unless you are sufficiently ahead of the equipment to cross safely.

28 EMPLOYEE SAFETY RULES—October 31, 2004
While within the limits of a designated mechanical facility, when crossing between standing equipment that is not under blue signal protection:
Employee may cross within 25 feet of standing equipment, provided:
1. Speed limits for all equipment on the track is 5 MPH or less, and;
2. Check for movement is made prior to crossing track, and;
3. Distance is sufficient to allow safe passage should there be unexpected movement, and;
4. Designated walkways are used, when available.

B. Stepping On Rails
Step over, not on:
Rails.
Frogs.
Switches.
Interlocking apparatus.
Connections.
Watch for conditions that could interfere with footing.

Horrors!  I know as a kid I must have broken every one of Rule 4B! (except

interlocking..none of that around)  I better make a run for the Mexican border....

Oh, that is dated 2004....didn't apply when I was doing it...

Now where did I read that some rail line had a long stretch of electrified rail out in a rural area, no less?...the photo showed it all open, where any cow or kid could wander across..I think it was in the U.S....

You would have to be brakeman/conductor to explain this one:

(paraphrased)...when aligning a siding switch for a meet, align the switch, lock it (when provided), then go back to the fouling point or the opposite side of the track from the switch stand...   We are all familiar with the rule, but what is the underlying reason?  Who has a story?  Then, I will share a few thoughts. 

I had always heard it was so you were physically away from the switch stand so as not to "accidentally" line the switch back the wrong way in a moment of "confusion" as the train approached/passed by.

Hmmm...  I stepped over the rail and my foot got caught UNDER the rail head.  Kind of wish I stepped ON the rail, that day.  Y'know... or lifted my foot higher.  The only thing that didn't hit the ground was my camera, my arm and my hand.  

/Mitch

And the rail itself could be loose.  If not maintained, and the rail section is short, it could twist under your weight, causing you to fall.

Also, the top of the rail is not that wide; that could cause a misstep and falling!

Way back in the BC (Before Children) I volunteered at the Illinois Railway Museum. What happened one day is someone threw the switch, panicked when they realized they did it wrong, and tried to switch it back. Whatever it was (Nebraska Zephyr?) half went one way and half went the other way, making for a rather nasty derailment instead of just a straight on collision (or maybe nothing at all). So have the switchman go to the other side of the stand so he/she can't change their mind.

(I just did whatever menial tasks that needed to get done like needle chipping and once I was trimming copper rings, I assume they were for tubes in one of the steam engines.).

The SP was very strict  on this rule with its employees. Every new section employee heard this the first day on the job.

So you're joking right? One electrified rail I didn't know about was in the east where diesel engines switched from oil to an electric third rail as they entered a tunnel area, etc. Being from Chicago, the EL and the Subway were the only examples.

The Long Island railroad has electrified rail to Ronkonkoma. New York Central had electrified rail from Grand Central to Harmon where they changed to locomotives.

Great discussion! Thanks guys!

Now I have an answer.

Didn't even think of third-rail electric. That would be a nasty surprise, I assume it would likely fry a person...

The issue is not only the third rail, but also the running rail. In a high current situation, voltage drop can elevate the running rail voltage to considerable above ground. I read an IEEE paper on the North East Corridor and there they had measured the running rail at over 1000 volts above ground.  The ground reference was the catenary support tower, which his tied to a ground rod. While running clearance tests on a new subway train, we used clearance fingers made of stainless steel. The small fences at the end of the platforms were inside the clearance limits. when the clearance fingers hit these small fences accelerating out of a station, there was considerable arcing, as the body of the car had a voltage of about 80 volts above ground. While switching on a 600 volt electric railroad, I have thrown switches and seen arcs between the rail and the points.  The running rails are not grounded, maybe except at a substation, so the power does not use utility pipes as the ground return path. Using pipes as a ground return can corrode them. 

CWEX and Illinoiscentral gave the exact answer.  Speaking only for myself, I can remember protecting the head-end, and lining a switch for a meet...did everything right, and went back to the fouling point...here comes the train at 40 mph...and I get the sickest feeling in my stomach like a crash is about to occur.  After all, I have peoples' lives in my hands, and if anything is wrong it will cost lives and millions of $.

You can do everything by the book and STILL get this overwhelming feeling.  It is hair-raising, it is real for some trainmen, and it is dangerous. This may help explain why in 1956 a fireman lined the Chief into a bump with The Fast Mail in Springer, NM.  Excerpts from a newspaper covering the incident:  

20 KILLED IN TRAIN WRECK

35 HURT AS CHIEF AND MAIL TRAIN COLLIDE IN STATE.

FIREMAN THREW SWITCH WRONG WAY, RAIL OFFICIAL SAYS.

Springer (AP) -- Twenty persons were killed and 35 were injured Wednesday when the Santa Fe Chief plunged, brakes screaming, head on into a sidelined mail train.  A Santa Fe official said a railway worker threw a switch the wrong way, directing the Chief off the main line and into the waiting mail train.

Railway spokesmen said the fireman on the mail train became confused and set the switch wrong. They added it is not unusual for the fireman, instead of the brakeman, to handle some switching duties on such trains. 

This may explain why in 1939 a CBQ freight train was suddenly lined into a siding to destroyed the cab of the waiting Pioneer Zephyr.  

If anyone asks himself, "how can that happen?", a seasoned brakeman knows why.

These are just my observations and opinions (but I'm right, hehe).

Line the switch.  THEN GET AWAY FROM IT. It prevents you from doing something drastic. 

Here's another side of stepping over a rail.  Let's say you are walking across the tracks, step and slip on the rail and go down.  That other rail is 4ft 8 1/2inches away.  Good landing spot for your head, and the rail will win.

Best to just step over it.

Did anyone else notice that the shiny track reply was given by rusty track??

Why run the risk of twisting an ankle or slipping off a rail head when it is so much easier to step over it?

Reportedly an example of the switch question in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEkZPZpeaQM

The switch was thrown before the last truck of the opposing train had crossed it.

Bob