2. U.S. Railroad Safety Statistics & Trends
Mike Martino, AAR
09 September 2014

3. Railroad Safety: Topics
Safety Statistics & Trends
Train Safety (Train Accidents)
Employee Safety
Grade Crossing Safety
Trespassers
12/4/2018

4. U.S. Railroad Safety Statistics: Main Themes
Railroads have continued to improve safety significantly over the last decade.
Railroads compare favorably with other industries & transportation modes.
The most troubling railroad safety problems arise from factors largely outside railroad control.
Railroads have implemented numerous and effective technological improvements and company-wide safety programs.
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5. U.S. Railroad Safety Statistics:
In 2013, U.S. railroads achieved their safest year ever by the following train accident yardsticks:
Derailments and Derailment Rates, down 1.2% and 3%, respectively, from 2012.
Track Caused Accidents and Accident Rates, down 4% and 6%, respectively, from 2012.
However, from the previous year, the train accident rate was up 0.2%, the employee casualty rate was up 7%, and the grade crossing collision rate was up 3%.
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6. Train accidents per million train-miles have dropped 42% since 2000.
4.13
2.40
Sources: (2013 data). FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 1-2.
Note: Excludes grade crossing accidents. Data for 2013 are preliminary.
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7. Train collisions per million train-miles have dropped 35% since 2000.
0.33
0.22
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 5-6.
Note: Excludes grade crossing collisions. Data for 2013 are preliminary.
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8. Derailments per million train-miles have dropped 42% since 2000, to a new low.
2.92
1.70
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 5-6.
Note: Excludes grade crossing accidents. Data for 2013 are preliminary.
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9. Equipment-caused accidents per million train-miles have dropped 42% since 2000.
0.51
0.30
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 5-9.
Note: Excludes grade crossing accidents. Data for 2013 are preliminary.
12/4/2018

10. Asset Health Strategic Initiative (AHSI) Description
Multi-year strategy for improvement of asset health driven by yearly industry targets and measures for improvement,
Solves problems with rolling stock that need a network view of asset information and industry coordination,
Applies information technology solutions and processes
What is the Asset Health Strategic Initiative? Also known as the Asset Health Program
A Multi-year Program –
Not a one year project. Programs differ from projects in that a project has a well defined scope, timeline, and ROI.
A program provides a focused effort to achieve expected business benefits with targets and measures, governance, and alignment and effective delivery of constituent projects to ensure progress.
This program will involve coordination between multiple AAR committees, and other different functional areas in the industry.
The Program will focus on problems that can only be solved or significantly improved through consolidation of asset information and coordination of asset management processes.
Data will have to be provided to the central site. It is anticipated that mechanical and analytical expertise will be developed at the industry level as the program dictates and is justified by the ROI. Industry rules will be modified or implemented to support the program as it evolves.
Focus of the program is on all areas of the asset health cycle – [prevent], detect, plan, move, repair, and settle.
Asset: Railcars and Locomotives primarily
Health -analyze, detect, and prevent rolling stock asset issues that hinder operational performance, while minimizing maintenance and repair impact and costs.
The rolling stock health cycle can be understood as a sequence of detecting a problem, planning the corrective action, moving the rolling stock to a point of repair, performing the repair, then settling accounts for the service performed. Moreover, a key goal is to prevent damage and defects from occurring in the first place.
Detect
Plan
Move
Repair
Settle
Prevent
SAFETY
© 2014 Association of American Railroads. All rights reserved.
06/05/2014

11. Scenario: Bad Actor Identification2 1
Individual railroads (e.g., RR2 in the figure below) accumulate information over time to identify a specific car as a common cause.
Line of Road Failure Data
Train ID
Event Date/Time
Event Duration
Root Cause
Trains experience multiple undesired emergency stops (UDEs) over time on different railroads.
RR1
RR2
RR3
Consist Detail
Train ID
Equipment IDs 3
Talk about MA that was just issued for this
Line of road failure data and consist details shared with Railinc. Railinc identifies the common cause earlier avoiding an estimated 5,500 UDEs and $3.7M in cost annually.
Related AHSI Initiatives:
Asset Information Repository
E-Train
Inspection Quality
© 2014 Association of American Railroads. All rights reserved.
06/05/2014

12. Track-caused accidents per million train-miles have dropped 48% since 2000, to a new low.
1.43
0.75
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 5-9.
Note: Excludes grade crossing accidents. Data for 2013 are preliminary.
12/4/2018

13. Human factors accidents per million train-miles have dropped 43% since 2000, to a new low.
1.59
0.91
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 5-9.
Note: Excludes grade crossing accidents. Data for 2013 are preliminary.
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14. Railroads have reduced employee fatalities by 65% since 1990, to a new low.97 40 24 14
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-2, 1-3, 4-2.
FRA Accident/Incident Bulletin, , Tables 13.
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15. Grade crossing collisions have declined 40% since 2000.
3,502
2,090
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Table 1-1.
Notes: Includes collisions involving pedestrians. Includes collisions at private crossings.
Data for 2013 are preliminary.
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16. Grade crossing fatalities have declined 41% since 2000.
425
249
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 1-3.
Note: Includes pedestrians, employees, passengers, and collisions at private crossings.
Data for 2013 are preliminary.
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17. Grade crossing injuries have declined 22% since 2000.
1,219
954
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-1, 1-3.
Note: Includes pedestrians, employees, passengers, and collisions at private crossings.
Data for 2013 are preliminary.
12/4/2018

18. Pedestrian highway-rail fatalities have more than doubled to 31% of all highway-rail user fatalities
460
All Highway-Rail Fatalities
271
Pedestrian Highway-Rail Fatalities 85
(31%)
38 (8%)
Source: AAR Analysis of FRA Highway-Rail Crossing Incident database, April 2013
Notes: All highway-rail crossings, public and private.
Includes documented suicides, 18 in 2011 and 33 in 2012.
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19. Trespasser fatalities continue to be a significant safety problem.
Total Trespasser Casualties
892
460
463
Trespasser Fatalities
Sources: (2013 data).
FRA, Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, , Tables 1-2, 10-3.
Note: Excludes "trespasser" fatalities at grade crossings. Data for 2013 are preliminary.
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20. An estimated 20% to 50% of reported trespasser fatalities are undocumented suicides.
Ovenstone Criteria for Classifying Casualties as Suicides, used in most of the EU but not in the U.S.
Suicide Note
Clear Statement of Suicidal intent to an informant
Behavior demonstrates suicidal intent
Previous Suicide Attempts
Prolonged Depression
Instability, i.e., marked emotional reaction to recent stress or evidence failure to cope.
EU Analysis indicates the Ovenstone Criteria account for about half of trespasser fatalities after Coroner Suicide Verdicts have been excluded.
Together, Coroner Suicide Verdicts and the Ovenstone Criteria account for two-thirds of all EU rail-related fatalities, 2,743 in 2010.
Much more work is required to refine these suicide estimates and to develop effective methods of dealing with suicides.
Sources:
Bruce George, “Rail Trespasser Fatalities: Developing Demographic Profiles,” presentation to Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, January 15, 2008.
European Railway Agency, 2012 Railway Safety Performance in the European Union, p. 17.
Railtrack, “Railway Group Safety Performance Monitoring – Definitions/Terminology, Appendix A, 1997.

21. Railroad Industry Safety Programs: Operations, Training, Crossings
Individual Railroad Employee Safety Programs
Crew Resource Management (CRM)
Peer Observation Programs
Fatigue Countermeasures
Remote Control Operations
Locomotive Simulators
Interactive Video Individual Training
Operation Lifesaver
Grade Crossing Upgrade (Section 130) Program
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22. THANK YOU