Casualties in railway accidents

Four people died in railway accidents in 2024. This is the same number as the year before and very similar to that in the period 2018–2020. In 2017 and 2021, the number of fatalities was clearly higher than in other years, which was related to a higher number of fatalities in level crossing accidents compared to other years. All persons who lost their lives in railway accidents in 2024 were accidentally run over by a train. Two of the fatalities occurred while the persons in question were performing their work duties, one in shunting and the other in track work.

One person was seriously injured in a railway accident in 2024. This person was a lorry driver who was injured when the lorry collided with a railcar at a level crossing. While the number of seriously injured persons was clearly lower than in previous years, conclusions cannot be drawn on the development of safety based on the figures for an individual year alone.

The following table shows the safety occurrences related to trespassing on railway premises in 2020–2024 compiled by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency. Almost invariably, accidents involving a person trespassing on railway premises and rolling stock in motion lead to the death of that person. Most of these are deliberate. 

The yearly number of persons being run over by a train has remained at a very similar level for several years, and there is no clear trend visible. In 2021, there were slightly fewer cases of a person being run over than before, but in 2022, the number returned to the previous level. The annual numbers of reports of incidents relating to persons and rolling stock in motion, trespassing on railway premises and vandalism vary greatly. It would appear that changes in the numbers of reported incidents reflect a change in the reporting rate of the cases in question rather than in the frequency of the incidents themselves.

In 2024, Traficom and Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency trainees produced a study on cases of trespassing on railway premises in 2023–2024 (including incidents involving persons and rolling stock in motion, vandalism and other types of trespass). For the purposes of this study, key railway operators were asked to actively report any incidents related to trespassing they observed in early autumn 2024. While the reporting campaign lasted a few weeks, active reporting also continued after this. This is why the numbers for 2024 are considerably higher than in previous years. In this context, it should be noted that the case numbers in 2024 give a more realistic picture of the prevalence of incidents than in previous years. The increased reporting rate nevertheless indicates that trespassing on railway premises is considerably more common than our statistics suggest.

The prevention of cases of persons being run over by a train and the related cases of trespassing on railway premises as well as unauthorised crossing of the tracks is regularly discussed among the operators in various cooperation groups. In 2019, a cooperation group aiming to prevent persons being run over by a train convened by Traficom started its work; its goals include improving the exchange of information between the different actors and promoting the implementation of research and preventative measures related to the topic. In 2024, the cooperation group started working on national online training for railway operators on identifying and encountering a suicidal person in rail traffic. The plan is to make the online training available to operators in 2025.