UIC Safety Report 2017 - Significant Accidents 2016 - Public Report

Number of significant accidents

The number of significant accidents in 2016 (1632) was similar to 2015 (1625). This means a consolidation of the general improvement of railway safety over the past 10 years. It does not mean that nothing changed in 2016. In the breakdown of different types of accidents, we see that 63.4% of all accidents are classified as “Individual hit by train”. This is an increase compared with the previous year (59.7%). A similar increase can be seen for “Trespassing” in relation to accident causes.  

Number of fatalities

42 more fatalities were recorded in 2016 than in the previous year. Regarding the types of accidents the railway sector can influence most directly (train collisions, derailments, fires and shunting operations), we observe 31 fatalities in 2016 and 16 in 2015. This difference of 15 fatalities is mainly accounted for by 3 major events: a derailment in Spain with 4 fatalities and 13 serious injuries, a train collision in Belgium with 3 fatalities and 10 serious injuries, and a train collision in Germany with 11 fatalities and 24 serious injuries. 56 more persons died hit by a train or falling from a train outside LC and there were 29 less fatalities at level crossings.

UIC Global Safety index 

The UIC Global Safety Index is actually a weighted number of accidents, whereby passenger and staff victims and internal causes are weighted more heavily than trespasser victims and external causes. In addition, a higher number of victims is weighted more heavily than a lower number. The index continued to decrease in 2016.