Strategies for Deterring Trespassing on Rail Transit and Commuter Rail Rights-of-Way, Volume 1: Guidebook (2022)

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9   Trespassing on the U.S. Rail Transit and Commuter Rail Systems The two primary sources of information regarding trespasser-related fatalities and injuries are the FTA NTD for rail transit systems and the FRA Office of Safety Analysis for commuter rail systems. Because of the different reporting requirements and trespassing definitions, each data source is analyzed separately. The NTD indicates that over the 5-year period from 2015–2019, there were 771 total fatali- ties and 32,508 injuries on light and heavy rail systems, as depicted in Table 1. Heavy rail systems experienced 71% of those fatalities and 84% of the injuries. When focusing only on fatalities and injuries involving pedestrians, those percentages flip to light rail experiencing 81% of fatalities and 86% of injuries. Table 1 also contains the suicide levels over the same 5-year period. Combined over these 5 years, there were 343 fatalities and 442 injuries on light and heavy rail systems for reported suicide attempts. Figure 1 shows the percentage breakdown of the fatalities and injuries involving pedestrians on light and heavy rail systems. Fatalities are most prominent for pedestrians in crossings, fol- lowed by pedestrians walking along tracks. Pedestrian in crossing is the most prominent injury category, followed by pedestrian not in crossing. Table 2 contains the 2019 fatalities and injuries for light rail and heavy rail. All the pedestrian fatalities and almost all the pedestrian injuries happened on light rail systems, while 83% of suicide fatalities and 86% of suicide injuries happened on heavy rail systems. Table 3 contains commuter rail trespassing fatality- and injury-related data analyses of FRA data from 2015–2019 by location of the person at the time of injury. There were 423 fatalities and 289 injuries on commuter rail lines over that period. Figure 2 shows the trespasser fatalities and injuries on commuter rail systems from 2015–2019. The figure shows a growing fatality rate. Suicide fatalities on the overall general railroad (freight, intercity, and commuter rails) were lower in 2019 than in previous years, as shown in Figure 3. Injuries associated with suicide incidents remained level over the time period. C H A P T E R   2

10 Strategies for Deterring Trespassing on Rail Transit and Commuter Rail Rights-of-Way (a) Total Pedestrian Fatalities (b) Total Pedestrian Injuries Source: Federal Transit Administration, NTD (7 ). Pedestrian in Crossing 35% Pedestrian Not in Crossing 20% Pedestrian Crossing Tracks 14% Pedestrian Walking along Tracks 31% Pedestrian Crossing Tracks 11% Pedestrian Walking along Tracks 20% Pedestrian in Crossing 44% Pedestrian Not in Crossing 25% Figure 1. Percentage of total pedestrian fatalities and injuries on light rail and heavy rail systems for 2015–2019. Source: Federal Transit Administration, NTD (7). Category Light Rail Heavy Rail Total Total All Fatalities 51 124 175 Suicide 11 52 63 Total Pedestrian Fatalities 16 0 16 • Pedestrian in Crossing 6 0 6 • Pedestrian Not in Crossing 5 0 5 • Pedestrian Crossing Tracks 0 0 0 • Pedestrian Walking along Tracks 5 0 5 Total All Injuries 1,023 5,277 6,300 Suicide 14 87 101 Total Pedestrian Injuries 24 0 24 • Pedestrian in Crossing 15 0 15 • Pedestrian Not in Crossing 7 0 7 • Pedestrian Crossing Tracks 0 0 0 • Pedestrian Walking along Tracks 2 0 2 Table 2. Light rail and heavy rail pedestrian fatalities and injuries for 2019. Table 1. Light rail and heavy rail pedestrian fatalities and injuries for 2015–2019. Category 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Total Total All Fatalities 143 144 137 172 175 771 Suicide 64 74 68 74 63 343 Total Pedestrian Fatalities 26 10 11 14 16 77 • Pedestrian in Crossing 5 4 6 6 6 27 • Pedestrian Not in Crossing 2 1 2 5 5 15 • Pedestrian Crossing Tracks 11 0 0 0 0 11 • Pedestrian Walking along Tracks 8 5 3 3 5 24 Total All Injuries 7,128 7,017 5,986 6,051 6,326 32,508 Suicide 93 66 93 89 101 442 Total Pedestrian Injuries 49 51 29 35 24 188 • Pedestrian in Crossing 9 29 8 21 15 82 • Pedestrian Not in Crossing 9 15 7 10 7 48 • Pedestrian Crossing Tracks 20 0 0 0 0 20 • Pedestrian Walking along Tracks 11 7 14 4 2 38 Source: Federal Transit Administration, NTD (7).

Trespassing on the U.S. Rail Transit and Commuter Rail Systems 11   Location Attribute 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Total Total Trespassing Fatalities 66 69 91 96 101 423 1. Track, on 27 29 37 51 59 203 2. Track, between 14 11 16 10 5 56 3. Track, beside 6 7 12 10 11 46 4. On highway-rail crossing 9 18 11 13 17 68 Total Trespassing Injuries 52 52 63 55 67 289 1. Track, on 17 15 26 17 24 99 2. Track, between 6 7 5 6 10 34 3. Track, beside 6 6 7 8 12 39 4. On highway-rail crossing 16 12 8 13 7 56 Source: Federal Railroad Administration, Accident Query (8). Table 3. Commuter rail trespassing fatalities and injuries for 2015–2019. Source: Federal Railroad Administration, Accident Query (8 ). 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Fatalities Injuries Figure 2. Commuter rail trespasser fatalities and injuries for 2015–2019.

12 Strategies for Deterring Trespassing on Rail Transit and Commuter Rail Rights-of-Way 317 268 270 273 229 29 32 41 36 23 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 5-Year Rail Suicide Fatalities and Injuries Fatalities Injuries Source: Federal Railroad Administration, 4.11—Suicide Casualties by State/Railroad (9). Figure 3. Suicide fatalities and injuries on the general rail network for 2015–2019.