European data is sourced from this document, starting with the tables on page 45. US data comes from this extremely handy data generator courtesy of the FRA. The only data used for the US is train accidents and highway/rail accidents. Potentially this may result in an undercounting compared to Europe.
This isn't entirely comparable to Alon's post, of course. I'm only examining the year 2010 rather than a spectrum of years and I'm looking at overall safety, not just passenger fatalities.
Charts and data lie beneath the page break
Country
|
Total Accidents
|
Millions of Train-KM
|
Accidents/Million-Train-KM
|
AT
|
79
|
156
|
0.51
|
BE
|
40
|
98
|
0.41
|
BG
|
39
|
31
|
1.26
|
CT
|
1
|
6
|
0.17
|
CZ
|
125
|
160
|
0.78
|
DE
|
297
|
1032
|
0.29
|
DK
|
22
|
83
|
0.27
|
EE
|
31
|
9
|
3.44
|
EL
|
39
|
17
|
2.29
|
ES
|
45
|
187
|
0.24
|
FI
|
23
|
51
|
0.45
|
FR
|
155
|
485
|
0.32
|
HU
|
142
|
97
|
1.46
|
IE
|
3
|
18
|
0.17
|
IT
|
103
|
324
|
0.32
|
LT
|
44
|
14
|
3.14
|
LU
|
3
|
8
|
0.38
|
LV
|
41
|
17
|
2.41
|
NL
|
24
|
146
|
0.16
|
NO
|
20
|
46
|
0.43
|
PL
|
449
|
219
|
2.05
|
PT
|
42
|
40
|
1.05
|
RO
|
271
|
94
|
2.88
|
SE
|
69
|
141
|
0.49
|
SI
|
21
|
19
|
1.11
|
SK
|
231
|
48
|
4.81
|
UK
|
62
|
520
|
0.12
|
Total
|
2421
|
4066
|
0.60
|
USA
|
3,917
|
1134
|
3.45
|
AMTRAK
|
224
|
65
|
3.45
|
BNSF
|
742
|
272
|
2.73
|
CN
|
188
|
28
|
6.71
|
CP
|
69
|
22
|
3.14
|
CSX
|
591
|
151
|
3.91
|
KCS
|
97
|
17
|
5.71
|
NS
|
494
|
147
|
3.36
|
UP
|
825
|
258
|
3.20
|
What about passenger fatalities?
Passenger Fatalities
|
Millions of Passenger Kilometers
|
Fatalities per Billion Passenger Kilometer
|
|
AT
|
0
|
10700
|
0.0000
|
BE
|
18
|
10493
|
1.7154
|
BG
|
0
|
2100
|
0.0000
|
CT
|
0
|
497
|
0.0000
|
CZ
|
2
|
6553
|
0.3052
|
DE
|
0
|
83702
|
0.0000
|
DK
|
0
|
6587
|
0.0000
|
EE
|
0
|
456
|
0.0000
|
EL
|
1
|
1144
|
0.8741
|
ES
|
15
|
20978
|
0.7150
|
FI
|
0
|
3959
|
0.0000
|
FR
|
2
|
81750
|
0.0245
|
HU
|
3
|
7666
|
0.3913
|
IE
|
0
|
1678
|
0.0000
|
IT
|
7
|
43474
|
0.1610
|
LT
|
0
|
373
|
0.0000
|
LU
|
0
|
350
|
0.0000
|
LV
|
0
|
741
|
0.0000
|
NL
|
0
|
16621
|
0.0000
|
NO
|
0
|
3153
|
0.0000
|
PL
|
7
|
17800
|
0.3933
|
PT
|
1
|
4111
|
0.2432
|
RO
|
4
|
5500
|
0.7273
|
SE
|
2
|
11036
|
0.1812
|
SI
|
0
|
813
|
0.0000
|
SK
|
0
|
2291
|
0.0000
|
UK
|
0
|
55831
|
0.0000
|
Total
|
62
|
400357
|
0.1549
|
USA
|
3
|
31872
|
0.0941
|
AMTRAK
|
2
|
10331
|
0.1936
|
On the face of it, the US actually appears to be safer than the Europeans for fatalities, but I believe this is a statistical anomaly due to the extreme safety of passenger rail travel. The number of fatalities are so low that any death, especially in the event of a mass casualty event such as the Halle train collision in Belgium (responsible for all 18 of their fatalities in 2010), that it causes a major swing in the relative data. The infrequent fatality rate and the tendency of passenger fatalities to be restricted to one or two major events suggests that the European standard of focusing on crash prevention rather than increasingly higher crash safety standards is the better approach.
What is surprising is that the US has a much higher rate of overall accidents. Given that even a simple derailment can be expensive, especially when it blocks a major route for a significant amount of time, one has to wonder why the US has such a high rate of accidents. One answer may be that the US has significantly more grade crossings, both in absolute and relative numbers, than do European nations and that this is responsible for the higher rate of accidents. Slightly more than half of all US accidents were highway/rail incidents while only a quarter of European accidents were level crossing accidents. Another issue is that of differences in reporting: Different threshold reporting requirements, or European figures not including yard accidents while the US figures do (I don't know if the European figures do exclude yard accidents), could result in mismatched data sets. Collisions and derailments should have similar reporting rates across nations however.
Country
|
Collisions
|
Millions of Train-KM
|
Collisions per Million Train Kilometers
|
|
AT
|
3
|
156
|
0.0192
|
|
BE
|
5
|
98
|
0.0510
|
|
BG
|
2
|
31
|
0.0645
|
|
CT
|
0
|
6
|
0.0000
|
|
CZ
|
3
|
160
|
0.0188
|
|
DE
|
13
|
1032
|
0.0126
|
|
DK
|
1
|
83
|
0.0120
|
|
EE
|
1
|
9
|
0.1111
|
|
EL
|
4
|
17
|
0.2353
|
|
ES
|
2
|
187
|
0.0107
|
|
FI
|
0
|
51
|
0.0000
|
|
FR
|
15
|
485
|
0.0309
|
|
HU
|
1
|
97
|
0.0103
|
|
IE
|
0
|
18
|
0.0000
|
|
IT
|
2
|
324
|
0.0062
|
|
LT
|
0
|
14
|
0.0000
|
|
LU
|
1
|
8
|
0.1250
|
|
LV
|
1
|
17
|
0.0588
|
|
NL
|
5
|
146
|
0.0342
|
|
NO
|
9
|
46
|
0.1957
|
|
PL
|
4
|
219
|
0.0183
|
|
PT
|
2
|
40
|
0.0500
|
|
RO
|
10
|
94
|
0.1064
|
|
SE
|
3
|
141
|
0.0213
|
|
SI
|
0
|
19
|
0.0000
|
|
SK
|
13
|
48
|
0.2708
|
|
UK
|
8
|
520
|
0.0154
|
|
Total
|
108
|
4066
|
0.0266
|
|
USA
|
131
|
1134
|
0.1155
|
|
AMTRAK
|
6
|
65
|
0.0923
|
|
BNSF
|
27
|
272
|
0.0993
|
|
CN
|
7
|
28
|
0.2500
|
|
CP
|
3
|
22
|
0.1364
|
|
CSX
|
23
|
151
|
0.1523
|
|
KCS
|
3
|
17
|
0.1765
|
|
NS
|
16
|
147
|
0.1088
|
|
UP
|
23
|
258
|
0.0891
|
Country
|
Derailments
|
Millions of Train-KM
|
Derailments per Million Train Kilometers
|
|
AT
|
2
|
156
|
0.0128
|
|
BE
|
2
|
98
|
0.0204
|
|
BG
|
1
|
31
|
0.0323
|
|
CT
|
0
|
6
|
0.0000
|
|
CZ
|
3
|
160
|
0.0188
|
|
DE
|
19
|
1032
|
0.0184
|
|
DK
|
1
|
83
|
0.0120
|
|
EE
|
0
|
9
|
0.0000
|
|
EL
|
2
|
17
|
0.1176
|
|
ES
|
7
|
187
|
0.0374
|
|
FI
|
1
|
51
|
0.0196
|
|
FR
|
14
|
485
|
0.0289
|
|
HU
|
1
|
97
|
0.0103
|
|
IE
|
0
|
18
|
0.0000
|
|
IT
|
3
|
324
|
0.0093
|
|
LT
|
1
|
14
|
0.0714
|
|
LU
|
0
|
8
|
0.0000
|
|
LV
|
0
|
17
|
0.0000
|
|
NL
|
3
|
146
|
0.0205
|
|
NO
|
4
|
46
|
0.0870
|
|
PL
|
17
|
219
|
0.0776
|
|
PT
|
3
|
40
|
0.0750
|
|
RO
|
0
|
94
|
0.0000
|
|
SE
|
7
|
141
|
0.0496
|
|
SI
|
0
|
19
|
0.0000
|
|
SK
|
2
|
48
|
0.0417
|
|
UK
|
6
|
520
|
0.0115
|
|
Total
|
99
|
4066
|
0.0243
|
|
USA
|
1339
|
1134
|
1.1808
|
|
AMTRAK
|
21
|
65
|
0.3231
|
|
BNSF
|
334
|
272
|
1.2279
|
|
CN
|
47
|
28
|
1.6786
|
|
CP
|
24
|
22
|
1.0909
|
|
CSX
|
175
|
151
|
1.1589
|
|
KCS
|
31
|
17
|
1.8235
|
|
NS
|
156
|
147
|
1.0612
|
|
UP
|
341
|
258
|
1.3217
|
Potentially, there may still be some oddness with reporting when it comes to derailments: Even though it is the lowest of American railroads, Amtrak reports a derailment higher an order of magnitude higher than European railways, and American freight railroads are all significantly higher.
I'll admit that I can't really think of a reason why collisions should have significantly different reporting rates between Europe and America, though it is possible with sideswipes and the like. Be that as it may, the data does show that the US has a significantly higher accident rate than Europe, assuming a fairly comparable set of reporting requirements, though with a passenger fatality rate significantly lower than what the accident rate would suggest (on par with Europe in 2010). With a suggested total cost of half a million euros per accident, among all accidents, improving our safety, both for freight and passenger rail, would greatly benefit America's economy, to the sum of approximately $2 billion annually.
Do you have the same figures stretching back a few years? This could smooth trends for passenger fatalities. For example we know the US rate is about 8 per year if you take a 20-year average and only look at the accidents on the Wikipedia list, and this is enough to put the US above Europe by some margin.
ReplyDeleteCrud, didn't realize that the graphs didn't show. Worked in preview. Makes the next post look rather dumb.
DeleteAnyhow, I've pulled passenger fatality, injuries, and passenger-miles back to 1976 (bear in mind that it is occasionally screwy). I can pull the other info as well if need be, but I believe that's what you were wanting?