Rail transport fatalities continued to rise in 2023

In 2023, the number of people killed in railway accidents in the EU rose to 841 deaths, compared with 803 in 2022.

2023 was the second year with an increased number of rail transport fatalities, after a decreasing trend from 2010 to 2021, when the number fell by around 45%. From 2019 to 2021, the decreases in railway accidents, fatalities and seriously injured persons coincided with a sharp drop in passenger transport by rail caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than half of the 2023 fatalities involved unauthorised persons on the tracks (58%), whereas the second largest group concerned level crossing users (27%).

This information comes from data on railway safety published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.

Source dataset: tran_sf_railvi

Wide differences between EU countries

In 2023, a rate of 2.5 people died per thousand km of railway tracks in railway accidents in the EU.

The highest rates of people killed in railway accidents were recorded in Greece (22.3), Slovakia (10.2), and Portugal (5.9). On the other hand, the lowest rates of people killed in railway accidents were observed in Finland (0.6), Sweden and Spain (both 1.0).

Source datasets: tran_sf_railvi and rail_if_tracks