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Causal Analysis of Passenger Train Accident on Shared-Use Rail Corridors

A number of economic, technical and political factors have limited the development of new, dedicated, very-high-speed rail systems in North America. Consequently, most, proposed, near-term development of improved or expanded passenger rail service in the United States will involve use of existing railroad infrastructure or rights of way. Comprehensive understanding of train accidents on shared-use corridors is important for rational allocation of resources to reduce train accident risk. Nevertheless, little research has been undertaken to quantify the risk of a passenger train operating on or next to a freight train in a shared track or shared-use corridor setting. Train accident data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Rail Equipment Accident database were analyzed to examine the effects of different accident causes on the risk of passenger train accidents on shared rail corridor. Derailments and collisions were identified as the most potentially significant train accident types while human factors accidents and track failures were the primary causes of those accidents. Comparisons of freight and passenger train accidents show that some causes related to human factors are relatively more frequent for passenger trains, while infrastructure-related causes are relatively more prevalent for freight trains. The research described in this paper presents the initial results of a study intended to understand and quantify the most important contributors to the risk of train accidents on shared-use rail corridors. This work can be used to better understand how to most efficiently and effectively manage the risk on shared-use rail corridors.