Table 2-33d: Transit and Grade-Crossing Incidents by Rail Transit Mode

Excel | CSV

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	(P) 2009
All transit rail, total	18,450	17,547	19,402	17,047	15,877	16,173	15,864	9,903	8,286	8,751	8,534	8,889	9,883	11,517	9,830
Transit only	18,323	17,413	19,283	16,941	15,737	16,025	15,763	9,505	8,010	8,440	7,999	8,713	9,700	11,334	9,658
Grade crossing	127	134	119	106	140	148	101	398	276	311	535	176	183	183	172
Light rail, total	1,276	1,350	1,173	1,121	1,182	1,319	1,299	1,105	983	931	1,130	1,138	1,190	960	831
Transit only	1,178	1,253	1,107	1,055	1,079	1,213	1,245	785	766	693	689	1,041	1,090	846	726
Grade crossing	98	97	66	66	103	106	54	320	217	238	441	97	100	114	105
Heavy rail, total	14,327	13,748	15,151	13,516	12,196	12,782	12,406	7,078	5,554	6,222	5,741	6,176	6,753	8,820	7,030
Transit only	14,325	13,746	15,146	13,513	12,195	12,781	12,398	7,076	5,553	6,221	5,740	6,173	6,748	8,815	7,028
Grade crossing	2	2	5	3	1	1	8	2	1	1	1	3	5	5	2
Commuter rail, total	2,847	2,449	3,078	2,410	2,499	2,072	2,159	1,720	1,749	1,598	1,663	1,575	1,940	1,707	1,924
Transit only	2,820	2,414	3,030	2,373	2,463	2,031	2,120	1,644	1,691	1,526	1,570	1,499	1,862	1,646	1,859
Grade crossing	27	35	48	37	36	41	39	76	58	72	93	76	78	61	65

KEY: P = preliminary.

NOTES

Light rail and heavy rail Grade crossings are regulated by the Federal Transit Administration. The Federal Transit Administration defines two types of Grade crossings: (1) At grade, mixed, and cross traffic crossings, meaning railway right-of-way over which other traffic moving in the same direction or other cross directions may pass. This includes city street right-of-way; (2) At grade with cross traffic crossings, meaning railway right-of-way over which no other traffic may pass, except to cross at grade-level crossings. This can include median strip rights-of-way with grade level crossings at intersecting streets.

Commuter rail Grade crossings are regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration. The Federal Railroad Administration defines a Grade crossing as a location where a public highway, road, street, or private roadway, including associated sidewalks and pathways, crosses one or more railroad tracks at grade.

Data thresholds changed for certain elements beginning with 2002. The extreme drop in the incidents, injuries, collisions, and not otherwise classifieds (personal casualties) for 2002 is due to the change of the incident thresholds, specifically the definition of injuries, in the NTD. The injury definition was changed for the 2002 revision of the NTD to coincide with other USDOT modes. Only incidents involving immediate medical treatment away from the scene now qualify as reportable injuries. Previously, any reported incident/injury was reported to NTD. It was felt that this resulted in the collection of claims-based as opposed to safety-based data.

SOURCE

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Transit Safety and Security Statistics and Analysis Annual Report, (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), available at http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov/ as of Apr. 5, 2006, and personal communications on June 8, 2005, Apr. 5, 2006, June 14, 2007, June 18, 2008, Aug. 20, 2010.