Executive Summary Freight and passenger railroads are among the safest modes of transportation for workers, riders, and the public. Strong federal standards for railroad track and operations, technological investments like positive train control, and communities’ infrastructure improvements have yielded significant gains. But most of these gains have plateaued and, in some cases, safety trends are moving in the wrong direction.
Total Incidents, All Railroads 35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
0
Source: Eno analysis of FRA’s Office of Safety Analysis “1.12 – Ten Year Accident/Incident Overview” data portal
The following are some of the key statistics from the review of Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) safety data: • Overall fatalities declined 45 percent between 1991 and 2012 but have since risen 31 percent. • While incidents involving grade crossings and trespassing made up only 29 percent of total railroad safety incidents in 2019, they accounted for 97 percent of railroadrelated fatalities.
Safer Railroading
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