Fatalities resulting from railway accidents across the European Union dropped by 10.8 per cent in 2024 compared with the previous year, falling to 750 from 841 deaths, according to new data released by Eurostat today, marking a reversal after two consecutive years of increases.

This decline follows a steady downward trend observed between 2014 and 2019, when the number of fatalities fell by around 22 per cent, and another sharp decrease of almost 15 per cent was recorded by the end of 2021.

The decreases in railway accidents, fatalities, and seriously injured people recorded in 2020 and 2021 coincided with a sharp drop in rail passenger transport that was caused by the global pandemic.

The data reveals that the overwhelming majority of 2024 fatalities involved unauthorised persons on the tracks, accounting for 65.6 per cent of all deaths.

The second largest group of victims concerned level-crossing users, which represented 25.5 per cent of fatalities.

Smaller shares were recorded for railway employees at 3.7 per cent, the category ‘others’ at 3.1 per cent, and railway passengers at 2.1 per cent.

When looking at individual member states, the highest number of people killed in railway accidents in 2024 was recorded in Poland with 163 fatalities, followed by Germany with 142, and Romania with 65.

Conversely, the lowest numbers of railway accident fatalities were observed in Luxembourg and Slovenia, where in fact there were no deaths recorded in 2024.

Estonia and Ireland each recorded 1 fatality, while Finland and Latvia both registered 4 deaths.

It should be noted that suicides occurring on railway premises are reported separately from fatalities or injuries resulting from accidents.

The number of suicides on railways consistently remains much higher than the number of fatalities from accidents, despite a downward trend seen in the EU over the past decade.

In 2024, the number of suicides on railways totalled 2,357, compared with 2,608 in 2014, representing a 9.6 per cent decrease.

The highest number of railway suicides in 2024 was recorded in Germany with 688, followed by France with 267, and the Netherlands with 186.

The lowest numbers of railway suicides were registered in Lithuania, which recorded no suicides, Greece with 1, and Estonia with 4.