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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 2-37: Transit and Grade-Crossing Incidents by Rail Transit Mode

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Table 2-37: Transit and Grade-Crossing Incidents by Rail Transit Mode

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  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 (R) 2008 (R) 2009 (P) 2010
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 9,514 9,732 9,541
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 9,340 9,558 9,358
Grade crossing 127 134 119 106 140 148 101 398 276 311 535 176 183 174 174 183
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 1,190 872 773 585
Transit only 1,178 1,253 1,107 1,055 1,079 1,213 1,245 785 766 693 689 1,041 1,090 759 667 470
Grade crossing 98 97 66 66 103 106 54 320 217 238 441 97 100 113 106 115
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 6,932 6,985 6,808
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 6,927 6,982 6,807
Grade crossing 2 2 5 3 1 1 8 2 1 1 1 3 5 5 3 1
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 1,688 1,924 2,074
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 1,635 1,859 2,008
Grade crossing 27 35 48 37 36 41 39 76 58 72 93 76 78 53 65 66

KEY: P = preliminary.

NOTES

Light rail and heavy rail Grade crossings are regulated by the Federal Transit Administration. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) 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 National Transportation Database.The injury threshold for filing an incident report changed to be two or more injuries requiring immediate medical transportation away from the scene, or one or more injuries requiring immediate medical transportation away from the scene in the case of incidents at grade crossings or along rail right-of-ways in 2002. Previously, any injury was reportable. Further, there were National Transportation Database definition changes made in 2008 to simplify the injury thresholds for filing an incident report. FTA simplified this threshold to being simply one or more injuries requiring immediate medical transportation away from the scene.

All transit rail, total includes data for other transit rail modes which are not presented in this table (such as monorail), thus details may not add to totals.

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, and Apr. 20, 2011.