INTERNATIONAL: The number of significant rail accidents in 2019 was down by 11% from 2018 and 24% from 2014, according to the latest annual figures from the International Union of Railways.
UIC’s safety database has been collecting data on significant accidents since 2006, and currently covers 31 UIC members in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Each accident is weighted according to cause, type, frequency and victim category, providing a deeper insight into general safety levels separately from rare but high-impact events.
In 2019 75% of accidents were caused by trespassing on railway infrastructure, and 15% were at level crossings. No more than 1% of accidents involved people being hit on a platform or falling from a train or platform. A further 7% of significant accidents were attributed to technical, organisational or human factors within the rail operational system, and the remaining 2% were caused by weather and environmental conditions.
UIC highlighted that railways are particularly vulnerable to the behaviour of third parties, which represented 98% of the fatalities recorded in 2019. ‘It is imperative that public authorities play their part in promoting education and raising awareness of risk, and continue their efforts to protect the railways from uncivil behaviour’, it said.
UIC cautioned that because of the coronavirus pandemic and associated transport restrictions the future results for 2020 ‘will not be comparable in any way with results in previous years’.
Members of UIC’s safety database
ADIF (Spain), ADIF-AV (Spain), CFL (Luxembourg), CFR-SA (Romania), CIE (Ireland), DB AG (Germany), HŽ (Croatia), Network Rail (UK), Infrabel (Belgium), IP (Portugal), BANE NOR SF (Norway), MAV (Hungary), ÖBB (Austria), PKP (Poland), ProRail (Netherlands), RAI (Iran), SNCF Réseau (France), FS RFI (Italy), SBB (Switzerland), SŽ (Slovenia), SŽ (Czech Republic, formerly SŽDC), TCDD (Turkey), Trafikverket (Sweden), ŽSR (Slovakia)
New members in 2019: RŽD (Russia), RAS-EL (Greece), KRRI (South Korea)
New members in 2020: FtiA (Finland), UŽ (Ukraine), SETRAG (Gabon) and SAR (Saudi Arabia).
