Statistically, rail remains one of the safest ways to travel in the United States – but that doesn’t mean railways are accident-free. Staff errors, aging tracks and equipment, inclement weather, and other problems may all cause or contribute to a train accident.
Experienced NY train accident attorneys take care to follow railway safety statistics, like these numbers from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS):
- Between 2006 and 2015, 10,897 railway accidents were reported in New York.
- The number of railway accidents has climbed steadily between 2008 and the present. In 2008, 1,076 accidents were reported; in 2014, 1,389 accidents were reported. Through the end of April 2015, 428 rail accidents had occurred in New York.
- The number of deaths in railway accidents in New York jumped from 16 deaths in 2006 to 33 deaths in 2014.
- From January through April 2015, rail accidents caused 19 deaths – more than occurred in all of 2006.
- The total number of nonfatal injuries in railroad accidents from 2006 to the first third of 2015 stands at 10,182.
- The number of nonfatal injuries in train accidents has also increased over the past decade, from 848 such injuries reported in 2006 to 1,333 injuries reported in 2014. In the first four months of 2014, 424 injuries were reported – half as many as were reported in all twelve months of 2006.
- There have been thirteen train derailments in New York in January through April 2015 – compared to sixteen total derailments in all of 2014. Although deaths and injuries have increased in recent years, the number of derailments has dropped sharply.