U.S. railroad accident statistics are staggering: in 2018, 841 people lost their lives in rail-related accidents. 261 of the 841 deaths, accounting for 31% of the total, were deemed to be suicides. On top of that, there were over 8,100 railroad incident-related injuries and illnesses recorded that same year. While there has been significant improvement in rail safety in recent decades, these numbers are indicative that further change is needed to improve public rail safety.
With safety in mind, the Federal Railroad Association (FRA) announced in February its first national strategy to address the alarming number of unintentional and intentional rail deaths, acknowledging that it needs to do more than simply educate the public. The four focus areas for the national strategy are data gathering and analysis, community engagement, funding, and partnerships with stakeholders.
In one example of data analysis, the FRA found that Broward and Palm Beach Counties in Florida ranked among the nation’s top 10 counties for the number of fatal pedestrian rail accidents. Using this data, the FRA is targeting its resources to the high-risk communities that need them the most. FRA initiatives within these communities consist of providing funding for community-based efforts to reduce railroad accidents and building relationships with law enforcement, railroads, and communities themselves.
In October, over half a year after announcing the strategy, FRA officials updated the public on its progress and outlined future steps during an event named “Breaking the Silence: Restoring Hope, Saving Lives.” Positive results were seen in cities that received rail safety grant funding in 2018, which included $75,000 awarded to the City of Lake Worth, Florida. A second round of the same grant is set to be announced at an undetermined point in the future. The FRA will also host summits in the 10 counties with the most pedestrian railroad incidents and work to create better risk assessment models from its data analyses.
It is important to remember that railroad accident statistics don’t come close to explaining the pain and suffering that victims and their loved ones experience. Jeff Payne, a staff director with the FRA, emphasized this point during the October event: “I get a report on my desk on a daily basis -- it’s bad. I get to see the statistics, and these are not just numbers. They are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters.” It is crucial that the FRA, railroad companies, and local communities work together to prevent future tragedies from occurring.
