BTS | Table 2-39: Railroad System Safety and Property Damage Data (Excludes highway-rail grade-crossing accidents)

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Table 2-39: Railroad System Safety and Property Damage Data

(Excludes highway-rail grade-crossing accidents)

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	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Fatalities	785	575	584	454	599	567	551	602	577	530	512	550	594	534	(R) 523	(R) 530	(R) 541	517
Injured persons ^a	17,934	50,138	58,696	31,617	22,736	12,546	10,948	10,227	10,156	10,304	10,424	9,828	10,104	(R) 8,217	(R) 8,084	(R) 8,423	(R) 7,389	7,575
Accidents ^b	8,095	8,041	8,205	3,275	2,879	2,459	2,443	2,397	2,575	2,768	2,983	3,023	2,738	(R) 3,017	(R) 3,380	(R) 3,260	(R) 2,957	2,593
Train-miles (millions) ^c,d	839	755	718	571	609	670	671	677	683	712	723	712	729	744	770	790	(R) 809	792
Rate per 100 million train-miles
Fatalities	94	76	81	80	98	85	82	89	84	74	71	77	82	72	(R) 68	(R) 67	(R) 67	65
Injuries	N	6,641	8,179	5,538	3,735	1,873	1,632	1,511	1,487	1,446	1,442	1,381	1,387	(R) 1,105	(R) 1,050	(R) 1,066	(R) 913	957
Accidents	965	1,065	1,143	574	473	367	364	354	377	389	413	425	376	(R) 406	(R) 439	(R) 412	(R) 365	328
Property damage(current $ millions)	121.6	177.4	267.4	179.3	198.7	189.2	212.3	210.7	233.9	245.1	263.2	314.5	266.5	298.0	325.1	337.4	305.3	305.3

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised.

^a 1970 injuries are not comparable to later years due to a change in reporting system.

^b Train accidents only; excludes highway-rail grade-crossing accidents.

^cTrain-miles in this table differ from train-miles in the vehicle-miles table in Chapter 1. Train-miles reported in Chapter 1 include only Class I rail (see glossary for definition), while this table includes Class I rail, Group II rail, and other rail. In 2005, Group II rail accounted for 78 million train-miles, and other rail for 29 million train-miles. Moreover, the vehicle-miles table in Chapter 1 includes only train-miles between terminals and/or stations, thus excluding yard and switching miles. In 2005, Class I yard/switching train-miles totaled 67 million train-miles. Note that commuter rail safety data are reported in the rail mode and the transit mode. Commuter rail train-miles are included in Class I rail and Group II rail in this table.

^dA train-mile is the movement of a train (which can consist of many cars) the distance of 1 mile. A train-mile differs from a vehicle-mile, which is the movement of 1 car (vehicle) the distance of 1 mile. A 10-car (vehicle) train traveling 1 mile would be measured as 1 train-mile and 10 vehicle-miles. Caution should be used when comparing train-miles to vehicle-miles.

NOTE

This table includes information for both freight and passenger railroad operations.

SOURCES

Fatalities, injuries, accidents, and property damage:

1970-90: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Policy and Program Development, Accident/Incident Bulletin (Washington, DC: annual issues), tables 14 and 15.

1995-2000: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report 2000 (Washington, DC: July 2001), tables 1-1 and 3-1.

2001-07: Ibid., Internet site http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/Query/Default.asp as of May 15, 2008.

Train-miles:

1970-90: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database (Washington, DC: annual issues), form 406.

1995-99: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Internet site http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/Forms/Default.asp as of Aug. 22, 2002.

2000-07: Ibid., Internet site http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/Query/Default.asp as of May. 15, 2008.