Специфика безопасности движения на железнодорожных переездах

Abstract

Purposes: To consider the state of safety on the railways of the world and the European Union (EU) countries for the period of 1990–2020, and make the particular focus on safety at railway crossings. Information from Wikipedia was considered as one of the sources to evaluate this situation and, as it is not known whether Wikipedia information is representative, more accurate data from the official ERADIS database, which collects comprehensive information on safety of EU railways, was as another source. Methods: The measure of safety status was annual estimates of absolute values of accident rate, material damage, associated with the accidents, and human life and health damage. In this regard, only accidents with passenger trains were considered. The causes of accidents — human error or technical failure — were also being determined, while cases of sabotage, vandalism and terrorism were not considered as they are related to transport safety and not to traffic one. The material, collected this way, can be differentiated and analyzed by EU countries, accident types — derailments, collisions on a way, collisions at railway crossings, collisions with people, fires on trains; by accident causes — human error or technical failure, by accident reasons — human errors or technical failures, by accident consequences — material damage or human life and health damage. Results: Integral estimates by year show increase in accident rate on railways. For EU countries this growth is slowing down but if we consider time periods from 4 years to more the accident rate keeps clear upward tendency. The main cause of accidents is human errors, especially, at railway crossings. Practical significance: The pursued analysis shows the necessity of further usage of automation and safety control systems to improve the guarantor-ability of railway transport.