Street-running rail operations pose a “heightened risk” of safety incidents, given that rail vehicles operate in and among other roadway users, including privately owned vehicles (POV), pedestrians and bicyclists, FTA noted. For this safety advisory (download below), it said street-running rail vehicle collisions include any collision between a light rail, streetcar, hybrid rail, or cable car vehicle and a POV at traditional rail grade crossings or within shared right-of-way street intersections, and persons outside a motor vehicle—including pedestrians, bicyclists and people using micro-mobility devices—at traditional rail grade crossings, street intersections, crosswalks within stations, and rail right-of-way in pedestrian malls.
FTA said it conducted an industry-wide survey, which revealed that the number of incidents reported at street intersection grade crossings was “about ten times higher” than the number of incidents reported at conventional grade crossings.
The agency identified that street-running rail vehicle collisions result in fatalities at a “much higher rate” than other frequently reported collision types across all modes included in National Transit Database data (see Figure 1, below). According to FTA, NTD data analysis from 2015 to 2023 of frequently reported collision types shows the following rates of fatalities for street-running rail vehicle collisions:
- 7.86 fatalities per 100 million vehicle revenue miles for street-running rail-to-person collisions (85 fatalities).
- 2.96 fatalities per 100 million vehicle revenue miles for street-running rail-to-POV at traditional rail grade crossing collisions (32 fatalities).
FTA said it reviewed 64 reports of rail-to-person and 214 reports of rail-to-POV collisions at rail grade crossings between 2020 and 2022. It found that 97% of the rail-to-person and 90% of rail-to-POV collisions involved “causal factors” where POV or persons failed to adhere to the intended roadway design; specifically, 77% of the rail-to-POV collisions occurred at grade crossings with traffic signals as the sole control device. From 2015 to 2021, it reported, 47% of rail-to-person collisions at rail grade crossings occurred where traffic signals were the main traffic control device. Additionally, FTA’s review showed that fatalities resulting from street-running rail vehicle collisions “greatly increase” when the rail vehicle is traveling at a speed greater than 30 mph. According to FTA, NTD data from 2015 to 2023 show that collisions involving street-running rail vehicles traveling at speeds greater than 30 mph resulted in 47% of fatalities in street-running rail-to-person collisions (40 fatalities) and 63% of fatalities in street-running rail-to-POV at traditional rail grade crossing collisions (20 fatalities).
In its advisory, FTA recommended that State Safety Oversight Agencies (SSOAs) direct rail transit agencies operating street-running rail systems in their jurisdictions “to incorporate analysis of collisions involving street-running rail vehicles with POVs or persons in shared rights-of-way into their Safety Risk Management (SRM) processes.” It also recommended that SSOAs incorporate an evaluation of the rail transit agencies’ mitigation of street-running rail vehicle collisions into their oversight activities. Additionally, FTA recommended that SSOAs share with their rail transit agencies the FTA-developed and identified resources that may assist with identifying mitigations for street-running rail vehicle collisions; they are available on the FTA Safety Risk Management website and Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) Technical Assistance Center.
