Statistical Analysis of the Railway Accidents Causes in Iran (TECHNICAL NOTE)

The occurrences of accidents on the railways are inevitable in today’s world and the factors which may cause it, except the atmospheric and accidental ones, are identified and preventable as well. Therefore, these factors can be investigated and useful actions can be performed in order to reduce these accidents. The main impetus of the present research is the statistical analysis of the causes of railway accidents in Iran. Our achievement illustrates that except the train collision accidents with vehicles, all the accidents vary upon a sixth order curve which means the instability and unpredictability of the railway accidents during the last years. According to the performed studies, it is clarified that the railway accidents during the 10 years from 2000 to 2010 have not had a stable flow and have been under fluctuations and each of the kinds and causes of the accidents has its own contribution to the occurrence of these railway related happenings. Based on the analyses, derailment is the major factor of the various railway accidents and it includes about 55% of these accidents. Damage to people and collisions with non-rail vehicles are placed in the second category. Hereupon, efforts must be made by providing the necessary equipment for the simple access of the people beyond the lines such as pedestrian bridges in order to reduce the railway accidents.