Rail Accident

Primary reference(s)

United Nations, European Union and the International Transport Forum at the OECD, 2019. Glossary for transport statistics. 5th Edition. Accessed 30 November 2019.

Additional scientific description

United Nations, European Union and the International Transport Forum at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Glossary (2019) states that the statistically agreed definitions for Rail Accident are as follows (United Nations, European Union and the International Transport Forum at the OECD, 2019):

• Accident: An unwanted or unintended sudden event or a specific chain of such events (occurring during train operation) which has harmful consequences.
• Incident: Any occurrence, other than an accident, highlighting a potential safety issue in railway operations. (Sometimes also referred to as accident precursor, or near-miss.)
• Significant accident: Any accident involving at least one rail vehicle in motion, resulting in at least one killed or seriously injured person, or significant damage to stock, track, other installations or environment, or extensive disruption to traffic. Accidents in workshops, warehouses and depots are excluded. This definition is used by the UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer).
• Significant damage to stock, track, other installations or environment: Damage that exceeds an internationally agreed threshold. (The threshold for significant damage, adopted by the UIC, was set at EUR 150,000 in 2007.)
• Extensive disruption to traffic: Extensive disruption to traffic occurs when train services on at least one main railway line are suspended for more than six hours.
• Injury accident: Any accident involving at least one rail vehicle in motion, resulting in at least one killed or injured person. Accidents in workshops, warehouses and depots are excluded. (This definition includes accidents with slightly injured persons and is similar to that used in road accident statistics.)
• Serious injury accident: Any accident involving at least one rail vehicle in motion, resulting in at least one killed or seriously injured person. Accidents in workshops, warehouses and depots are excluded. (This definition is normally used by the UIC for railway accidents and excludes the accidents with slightly injured persons. Figures collected under this definition cannot be compared directly to the number of road accidents which includes accidents with slightly injured persons.)
• Casualty: Any person killed or injured as a result of an injury accident, excluding attempted suicides.
• Person killed: Any person dying immediately or within 30 days as a result of an injury accident, excluding suicide. (It includes passengers, employees and other specified or unspecified persons involved in a rail injury accident. A killed person is excluded if the competent authority declares the cause of death to be suicide, i.e., a deliberate act to injure oneself resulting in death. For countries that do not apply the threshold of 30 days, conversion coefficients are estimated so that comparisons on the basis of the 30 day-definition can be made.)
• Person injured: Any person who as a result of an accident was not killed immediately or not dying within 30 days, but sustained an injury, normally needing medical treatment, excluding attempted suicide. (Injuries include cases such as, but not limited to, a cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation. Persons with lesser wounds, such as minor cuts and bruises are not normally recorded as injured. An injured person is excluded if the competent authority declares the cause of the injury to be attempted suicide by that person, i.e., a deliberate act to injure oneself resulting in injury, but not in death.)
• Person seriously injured: Any person injured who was hospitalised for more than 24 hours as a result of an accident, excluding attempted suicide.
• Person slightly injured: Any person injured normally needing medical treatment, excluding attempted suicide, not classified as seriously injured. (Persons with lesser wounds, such as minor cuts and bruises are not normally recorded as injured.)
• Collision:
  • Collision of two or more rail vehicles (Any front to front, front to end or a side impact between a part of a train and a part of another train or rail vehicle, or with shunting rolling stock).
  • Collision of rail vehicle with an obstacle within the clearance gauge (An impact between a part of a train and objects fixed or temporarily present on or near the track (except at level crossings if lost by a crossing vehicle or user), including impacts with overhead contact lines).
• Derailment: Any case in which at least one wheel of a train leaves the rails. (Derailments as a result of collisions are excluded. These are classified as collisions.)
• Level crossing accidents: Any accident at a level crossing involving at least one railway vehicle and one or more crossing vehicles, other users of the road such as pedestrians or other objects temporarily present at or near the track (Sometimes also referred to as grade crossing accident.)
• Accidents to persons caused by rolling stock in motion: Accidents to one or more persons that are either hit by a railway vehicle or part of it or hit by an object attached to it or that has become detached from the vehicle. Persons that fall from railway vehicles are included, as well as persons that fall or are hit by loose objects when travelling on-board vehicles.
• Fires in rolling stock: Fires and explosions that occur in railway vehicles (including their load) when they are running between the departure station and the destination, including when stopped at the departure station, the destination station or intermediate stops, as well as during re-marshalling operations.
• Accident involving the transport of dangerous goods: Any accident or incident that is subject to reporting in accordance with the Regulation concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (OTIF, 2021).
• Suicide: An act to deliberately injure oneself resulting in death, as recorded and classified by the competent national authority.
• Attempted suicide: An act to deliberately injure oneself resulting in serious injury, but not in death, as recorded and classified by the competent national authority.

Category of person in railway accident statistics:

• Rail passenger: Any person, excluding members of the train crew, who makes a trip by rail. For accident statistics, passengers trying to embark/disembark onto/from a moving train are included.
• Employees or contractor: Any person whose employment is in connection with a railway and is at work on duty at the time of the accident. It includes the crew of the train and persons handling rolling stock and infrastructure installations.
• Level crossing user: Persons using a level crossing to cross the railway line by any means of transportation or by foot.
• Trespasser (unauthorised persons on railway premises): Any persons present in railway premises where such presence is forbidden, with the exception of level crossing users.
• Others:
  • Other person at platform: means any person at a railway platform who is not defined as ‘passenger’, ‘employee or contractor’, ‘level crossing user’, ‘other person not at a platform’ or ‘trespasser’.
  • Other person not at platform: means any person not at a railway platform who is not defined as ‘passenger’, ‘employee or contractor’, ‘level crossing user’, ‘other person at a platform’ or ‘trespasser’.

Metrics and numeric limits

Not reported globally.

Examples of drivers, outcomes and risk management

Drivers of this hazard include collisions, derailments, level crossing accidents, accidents to persons caused by rolling stock in motion, and fires in rolling stock (United Nations, European Union and the International Transport Forum at the OECD, 2019).

The Railway Safety Directive was published with the purpose of establishing and improving rail safety and security standards across the European Union (ORR, 2004). This framework also includes Common Safety Targets (CST) to develop and improve safety performance (European Union Agency for Railways, 2017).

It should be noted that, in contrast to other modes of transport, a large majority of rail accident fatalities occur to level crossing users or trespassers on rail tracks, as opposed to railway passengers (European Union Agency for Railways, 2018). This thus presents different hazard management challenges than for other modes of transport.