Safety Database Activity Report - Significant Accidents 2009 - Benchmarking and Appendix (Public version)

In 2009 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.  

It is important to note that in previous years data was only available from 20 member countries.  This year there is an additional country reporting data.  The total number of accidents recorded in the database in 2009 is therefore higher than in 2008.  Excluding the data from the 21st country, for comparison purposes, there are fewer significant accidents than in 2008, and this is part of a long-term trend of improvement. 

The total number of victims (defined as fatalities and seriously injured persons), and the number of victims per accident are also lower than in the last two years, indicating a gradual trend toward improved safety.  The most pronounced drop was in the rate of fatalities for passengers, with half the number of passenger fatalities per accident than in the two previous years.  There were 171 passengers injured in accidents in 2009, down 17 percent from 2008, and only 30 passengers killed, less than half the number from the previous year.  Risk to passengers on the railway has decreased markedly.  Remarkably, there were no passengers killed in collisions, derailments, level crossing accidents, electrocutions or fires.  All passenger fatalities were the result of individuals hit by trains or falling from trains.