Passenger Rail Safety

In America's cities and beyond, nothing connects us to work, play and each other like public transit, today's safest, most reliable way to travel.

Faster, more accessible and efficient than ever, sleek public transit trains link busy cities with burgeoning suburbs, providing affordable mobility, reducing highway congestion and uniting communities. Though passenger rail consistently offers people the safest transportation available, with more systems opening and trip increases forcasted - future ridership is projected to rise by 3.5% annually, nearly doubling over the next 20 years* - sustaining that safety record is a priority. At Operation Lifesaver, we're trained to help. Our free outreach programs offer drivers, pedestrians and communities critical rail safety education keeping them safe around trains and railroad rights-of-way.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) estimates that 35 million times each weekday, people use public transportation. Such heavy traffic means that incidents - people and vehicles colliding with public transit trains - sometimes happen. Although recent National Transit Database figures show that passenger rail pedestrian trespassing-related incidents and rail grade crossing collisions between public transit trains and vehicles have increased, at Operation Lifesaver, we know that safety education can help prevent many of those incidents.

Modern public transit has a stellar safety record of providing safe transportation people can rely on. Through collaboration with our transit colleagues we intend to maintain, and improve on, that record. Our partnership with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), initiated in 2002, develops and implements effective educational outreach programs reinforcing passenger railís safety culture in new and existing transit systems. Programs like New Jersey Transit's teen driving program teaches safe driving practices around trains and buses, reaching over 175,000 new drivers in 2010 alone. Georgia Operation Lifesaver partnered with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) to feature an OL awareness campaign warning distracted pedestrians to stay alert to stay alive. And the launch of an aggressive public awareness campaign preceding Capital Metro's opening in Austin offered Texas Operation Lifesaver's safety messages, reaching over 30,000 students and 15,000 residents and helping ensure that system's incident-free start. 

Rail safety education can, and does, save lives.  With decades of experience in successful rail safety education, Operation Lifesaver is expanding its effective public outreach programs to advance passenger rail safety. Our goal is to help sustain passenger rail - affordable, accessible and reliable - as a leader in American transportation safety.

*AASHTO Ridership Forecasts 2009

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Read Lorraine DePugh's story - New Jersey Transit commuter train operator