[MrOwnPut]

That doesn't mean it was the brake. The bearing contains the brake. The axle contains the bearing. The train contains the axle.

Not enough information to determine what caused the bearing to fail, bearing failures account for 5.9% of all train derailments[1].

Though we can look at common train bearing failures to get a likelihood...

Most likely it was a simple lack of maintenance. It's possible to prevent this with more sensors[2] and tighter maintenance checks.

[1] https://www.wisnerbaum.com/blog/2016/september/the-most-comm...

[2] https://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/research/projects/...

[TylerE]

No, you e got it backwards. The train contains the bogey which contains the bearing which contains the axle.

[MrOwnPut]

Err yes you're right on that.

My point though is the "bearing failing" is too generic to determine what on it failed.

Sometimes the brakes are fixed to the axle, are they not? In that case it couldn't be the brake.

[TylerE]

I’m not waiting y the brake failed. It can take minutes for air brakes to respond on a long train. Once they become aware of the hot axle, if they could stop quicker, then the bearing doesn’t fail, which causes the axle to drop out, and thus the train to derail.

Think about pulling over as soon as you know you’ve taken a hit to a tire instead of continuing to drive until you’re on nothing but a rim and sparks.