Abe, I respect your opinion and enjoy reading your posts. It sounds like you may have some experience with railroads. I have none. My point is how far do we go to protect people from harm's way? Closing schools? Sure, it's brutal standing out there waiting for a bus. Shutting down the railroads? OK, I'll give you that since Amtrak is a people carrier. What triggered my response was the phrase, Abundance of Caution. That tells me that if the train jumps the tracks, the lawyers are there before the wheels stop spinning.
We can't protect people 100% of the time. There's a risk in everything we do, cross the street, ride a train, bad things can happen. I'll continue to take those chances as I think I know the odds.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas Abe. Stay warm!