UIC has published its annual report on railway accidents.
Scope
The UIC Safety Database has been recording significant accidents since 2006. This year, 36 railway undertakings from 33 countries, spanning Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, contributed their safety-related data to the UIC Safety Database. Notably, three new members from the Americas – Argentinian State Railways (SOFSE), the Colombian National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) and Amtrak from the USA – have joined the initiative, marking a significant step toward global participation in railway safety efforts. This year for the first time, the UIC Annual Safety Report will be presented as an interactive, dynamic dashboard powered by Power BI.
For the complete report and more in-depth information, please use the two links provided below to access the full, interactive digital version:
A sustained increase in significant accidents
Since 2020, a year heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a sustained increase in significant accidents1. This rise was evident both in absolute numbers and relative to train-kilometre ratios. However, despite this increase, there was a slight decrease in the Global Safety Index (GSI), indicating a positive trend towards overall safety improvements.
The UIC Safety Index goes beyond merely providing statistics on accident rates: each accident is “"weighted"” according to cause, type and victim category. This makes it possible to gain a more detailed understanding of general safety levels, independent of fortunately rare high-impact events. This index also makes it possible to understand the rail system’s intrinsic level of responsibility with regard to external stresses. Generally speaking, the lower the index, the better safety is understood to be.
Key indicators in 2023
While the total number of accidents rose in 2023, there was a decrease in the number of victims. Unfortunately, the number of fatalities increased, emphasising the severity of certain incidents.
Level crossing (LC) accidents
LC accidents dropped by approximately 7% compared to 2022, with a 38% decrease in non-victim LC accidents. However, incidents involving individuals rose, as did train collisions with obstacles, which contributed significantly to the overall number of accidents.
Focus 2024: In-depth study on Signals Passed at Danger (SPADs)
The 2024 Safety Report focuses on the critical issue of Signals Passed at Danger (SPADs), a recurrent safety risk in railway operations. Data from 25 companies provided a deeper analysis of SPAD incidents, examining factors such as train types, line characteristics and the presence of train protection systems.
Trends in SPADs show a rising number of incidents in recent years, reflected in both actual counts and normalised figures per train-kilometre, except for 2020, when the opposite trend was observed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For incidents with identifiable underlying causes, the primary contributing factors are workload, processes and procedures, and verbal communication.
Members of the UIC Safety Database in 2024
ADIF (Spain), AMTRAK (USA), ANI (Colombia), BANE NOR SF (Norway), CFL (Luxembourg), CFR-SA (Romania), CIE (Ireland), DB AG (Germany), EUSKOTREN (Spain), FGC (Spain), FS RFI (Italy), FTIA (Finland), HŽ (Croatia), Infrabel (Belgium), INFRAKOS (Kosovo), IP (Portugal), KRNA (South Korea), LDZ (Latvia), LTG (Lithuania), MÁV (Hungary), Network Rail (UK), NRIC (Bulgaria), ÖBB (Austria), OSE (Greece), PKP (Poland), ProRail (Netherlands), RAI (Iran), SBB CFF FFS (Switzerland), SNCF Réseau (France), SOFSE (Argentina), SŽ (Slovenia), SŽ (Czech Republic), TCDD (Turkey), Trafikverket (Sweden) and ŽSR (Slovakia)
Access to the document
The UIC 2024 report on safety can be downloaded from: https://uic.org/safety/safety-performance-group-safety-database/
DEFINITIONS (EN)
Train-km: Unit of measure representing the movement of a train over one kilometre. The total train-km is the basic measure of rail traffic.
Significant accident: Any accident involving at least one rail vehicle in motion, resulting in at least one killed or seriously injured person, or in significant damage to stock, track, other installations or environment, or extensive disruptions to traffic. Accidents in workshops, warehouses and depots are excluded.
Victims: Fatalities and serious injuries.
Fatality: Any person killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of an injury accident, excluding suicides (Regulation (EC) No 1192/2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 91/2003).
Serious injury: Any person injured who was hospitalised for more than 24 hours as a result of an accident, excluding attempted suicides (Regulation (EC) No 1192/2003).
Indicators: Absolute numbers divided by the total number of train-km.
