Safety Database Activity Report - Significant Accidents 2010 - Benchmarking and Appendix

In 2010 the UIC Safety Database collected significant accidents and critical events from the main railway companies in 21 European countries including Norway and Switzerland, plus Eurotunnel.  

One of the railways, NRIC of Bulgaria, which contributed data to the Database in 2009 did not submit data for 2010; on the other hand a new railway Infrastructure Manager, HZ of Croatia, submitted data for the first time this year.  Therefore, as in 2009, there are 21 railways represented in this report, however one of them has been replaced by another.  For the purposes of consistent comparison with past years, in the table below only the data from the 19 railways that have supplied data every year is considered.   

With regard to the number of accidents since 2006 from these 19 members, the overall safety trend is positive.  There have been fewer and fewer accidents every year, and 2010 was no exception, with a much lower number of accidents than in 2009, which was already well below the number for 2008.  Part of the reason for this decline is undoubtedly the reduction in kilometres of train movement, due to the economic downturn across Europe.  But the accident rate per kilometre has fallen as well, continuing a steady trend, which indicates a true reduction of accident risk on the railways.