UIC Safety Report 2020 - Significant Accidents 2019 - Public Report

For railway safety the year 2019 is the best year ever! Thanks to all the efforts made by railway companies and infrastructure managers we see (at equal perimetre and compared to 2018) less significant accidents, less fatalities and a decrease on the UIC Safety index. We are certainly on the path of improvement, but let us keep in mind that there is still a long way to go. It will take a strong will, funding and long term focus to reduce the number of 2286 fatalities to zero.

Number of significant accidents

From 2006 till 2014 the annual number of significant accidents has decreased with around 25%. In the period of 2015-2018 we see a plateau around 1790 significant accidents per year. The number of significant accidents declared by established members in 2019 (1570) is lower than all previous years. This means that we see a continuation of the general improvement of railway safety. Although networks have different sizes and numbers of accidents differ between countries, the overall picture that we see among the established members compared to the new members is comparable.

Number of fatalities (excepting Ukraine)

In 2019 we recorded 349 less fatalities (-13%) than in the previous year for all members, excepting Ukrainian Railways for which 2018 data are not available. The types of accidents the railway sector can influence most directly (train collisions, derailments, fires and shunting operations) remain at a low level (2% of all fatalities). On level crossings we see 21% less fatalities and the number of fatalities related to individuals hit by train has decreased by 12%. These figures represent remarkable reductions! 

UIC Safety index (established members)

The UIC 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 decrease in the index from 2014 to 2015 is followed by two level years. 2019 seems to be picking up the long term improvement of general safety level.