01662564

Component

Demand for regional and intercity passenger transport in the United States is increasing, resulting in the need to expand rail services and capacity. Railroads are viewed as a promising alternative to highway and air transport because of their ability to provide safe, economical, comfortable, and reliable transport. Passenger train safety has improved over the past two decades; however, faster and more frequent service brings with it greater exposure to potential accidents. Understanding risk in passenger train operations is essential to most efficient resource allocation to further improve safety and reduce the risk of accidents and casualties. This paper presents an analysis of passenger train accidents in the United States from 1996 to 2015 in order to understand the general trend of passenger train accident rates, quantify the frequency and severity of different accident types, and identify the major factors that cause them. This analysis of train accident provides a foundation for further improvement in passenger train safety and suggests opportunities for future research including shared-use rail corridor risk assessment, train accident precursors, human factor analyses and data mining applications in railroad safety.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR070 Standing Committee on Railroad Operational Safety.

18-03877

English

25p

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Crash causes; Crash rates; Crash severity; Passenger trains; Railroad crashes; Railroad safety; Trend (Statistics)

United States

Passenger Transportation; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-03877

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 10:58AM