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Table 2-39: Railroad and Grade-Crossing Fatalities by Victim Class

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  1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 (P) 2014 (P) 2015
Passengers on trains 4 3 3 8 3 58 5 0 12 6 4 14 4 3 7 3 3 16 2 5 24 3 3 6 5 6 5 17
Railroad only 4 3 3 8 3 58 5 0 12 6 2 3 4 3 7 2 3 16 2 5 24 3 3 2 5 6 5 12
Grade crossing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 11 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 5
Employees on duty 97 46 40 35 34 47 31 34 33 37 27 31 24 22 20 19 25 25 16 17 25 16 20 21 16 14 10 11
Railroad only 97 44 35 34 32 44 30 32 32 37 23 29 22 21 19 18 23 23 12 16 22 16 20 15 (R) 15 13 10 11
Grade crossing 0 2 5 1 2 3 1 2 1 0 4 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 4 1 3 0 0 6 (R) 1 1 0 0
Employees not on duty 4 2 0 1 1 4 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
Railroad only 3 2 0 1 1 4 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
Grade crossing 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Contractor employees 7 4 3 3 11 6 3 7 9 11 5 12 3 4 10 5 4 5 7 5 5 4 3 3 3 (R) 6 5 8
Railroad only 7 4 3 3 10 6 3 7 9 11 5 11 3 4 9 4 4 5 7 5 5 4 3 2 3 5 5 7
Grade crossing 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 (R) 1 0 1 0
Nontrespassersa 739 507 551 484 475 489 505 443 365 363 326 305 335 269 267 205 242 250 236 200 160 125 139 130 128 129 146 134
Railroad only 16 10 15 16 12 18 44 32 27 15 9 8 19 11 18 8 18 23 2 16 5 8 7 15 (R) 10 18 13 34
Grade crossing 723 497 536 468 463 471 461 411 338 348 317 297 316 258 249 197 224 227 234 184 155 117 132 115 (R) 118 111 133 100
Trespassers 566 474 700 663 646 675 682 660 620 646 644 570 570 673 646 635 621 588 642 624 589 548 569 530 (R) 522 (R) 544 601 596
Railroad only 457 391 543 524 533 523 529 494 471 533 536 479 463 511 540 501 475 458 511 470 457 416 440 406 (R) 410 (R) 425 470 465
Grade crossing 109 83 157 139 113 152 153 166 149 113 108 91 107 162 106 134 146 130 131 154 132 132 129 124 112 119 131 131
Volunteer employees N N N N N N N N N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Railroad only N N N N N N N N N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Grade crossing N N N N N N N N N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Railroad only and grade crossing, total 1,417 1,036 1,297 1,194 1,170 1,279 1,226 1,146 1,039 1,063 1,008 932 937 971 951 868 895 884 903 851 803 696 734 690 674 700 767 768
Railroad only 584 454 599 586 591 653 611 567 551 602 577 530 512 550 594 534 523 525 534 512 513 447 473 440 (R) 443 (R) 468 503 531
Grade crossingb 833 582 698 608 579 626 615 579 488 461 431 402 425 421 357 334 372 359 369 339 290 249 261 250 (R) 232 (R) 231 265 236
Motor vehiclesb 748 521 614 535 506 554 542 508 415 419 369 345 361 345 310 281 290 284 305 265 221 #REF! #REF! #REF! #REF! #REF! #REF! #REF!
Nonmotor vehiclesb 85 61 84 73 73 72 72 72 72 42 62 57 64 76 47 53 82 75 64 74 69 #REF! #REF! #REF! 67 71 97 85

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

a Beginning in 1997, Nontrespassers off railroad property are also included.

b The components of Grade crossing data were revised at a different point in time from the total Grade crossing data and may not sum to the total of Grade crossing data.

NOTES

Railroad only includes fatalities from train accidents, train incidents, and nontrain incidents (excludes highway-rail grade crossings). This table includes information for both freight and passenger railroad operations. Details may not add to totals due to different data sources are used.

SOURCES

All, except grade crossing total, motor vehicles, nonmotor vehicles:

1980-94: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident and Inventory Bulletin (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), and the Accident/Incident Bulletin (Washington DC: Annual Issues).

1995-2004: Ibid., personal communication, May 14, 2008, and table 4.08, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety as of Sept. 16, 2009.

2005: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Preliminary Annual Report (Washington, DC: March 2011 Issue), table 1-3, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Prelim.aspx as of Dec. 22, 2012.

2006: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Preliminary Annual Report (Washington, DC: March 2012 Issue), table 1-3, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Prelim.aspx as of Dec. 22, 2012.

2007: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Preliminary Annual Report (Washington, DC: March 2013 Issue), table 1-3, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Prelim.aspx as of Aug. 1, 2013.

2008-09: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Preliminary Annual Report (Washington, DC: July 2013 Issue), table 1-3, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Prelim.aspx as of Aug. 1, 2013.

2010-15: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Preliminary Annual Report, table 3.01, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/default.aspx as of Jul 30, 2016.

Grade crossing total, motor vehicles, nonmotor vehicles:

1980-94: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident and Inventory Bulletin (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), and the Accident/Incident Bulletin (Washington DC: Annual Issues).

1995-2004: Ibid., personal communication, May 14, 2008, and table 4.08, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety as of Sept. 16, 2009.

2005-09: Ibid., Highway-Rail Incidents by Type Major User from Form FRA F 6180.57, table 5.11, Hwy/Rail Incidents Summary Tables, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/Default.aspx as of Aug. 1, 2013.

2010-15: Ibid., Highway-Rail Incidents by Type Major User from Form FRA F 6180.57, table 5.14, Hwy/Rail Incidents Summary Tables, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/Default.aspx as of Aug. 12, 2016.