In 2023, the United States registered 995 rail fatalities and around 6,700 non-fatal injuries on the railroads. Injury and fatality numbers had fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, but 2022 saw a resurgence of accidents above pre-pandemic levels. Positive Train Control (PTC) Ever since the enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA), the U.S. rail industry has been working on implementing the Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on over 60,000 miles of the rail network. The original deadline of December 31, 2015 was extended to 2018 after several railroads have stated they are unable to meet the deadline due to technical and legal complications. At the end of 2020, PTC had been implemented on railway routes that were required to do so. The Positive Train Control consists of a bundle of state-of-the-art technologies is meant to avoid accidents caused by human error, track or equipment malfunction, faulty movement of trains through a grade crossing, breaches on railroad tracks and other types of train operator errors. More precisely, PTC aims to prevent train-on-train collisions, deflections caused by excessive speed or other derailments on tracks where maintenance operations are underway. The technology uses a number of factors like weight and length of the train, track composition, train speed and train authorization in order to calculate the adequate stopping distance for a train. The PTC system includes an onboard locomotive system that monitors the position and speed of the train and triggers braking in case of speeding or unapproved train movement; a wayside system to check track signals, switches and track circuits for movement authorization; and a back office server that stores all relevant rail traffic information. Until 2015, 6.4 billion U.S. dollars have been spent for the PTC deployment on over more than 2,300 of track miles and more than 4,500 locomotives. By 2020, the total costs had risen to more than 10 billion U.S. dollars.
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These statistics on transport use are published monthly.
For each day, the Department for Transport (DfT) produces statistics on domestic transport:
The associated methodology notes set out information on the data sources and methodology used to generate these headline measures.
From September 2023, these statistics include a second rail usage time series which excludes Elizabeth Line service (and other relevant services that have been replaced by the Elizabeth line) from both the travel week and its equivalent baseline week in 2019. This allows for a more meaningful like-for-like comparison of rail demand across the period because the effects of the Elizabeth Line on rail demand are removed. More information can be found in the methodology document.
The table below provides the reference of regular statistics collections published by DfT on these topics, with their last and upcoming publication dates.
Mode | Publication and link | Latest period covered and next publication |
---|---|---|
Road traffic | Road traffic statistics | Full annual data up to December 2024 was published in June 2025. Quarterly data up to March 2025 was published June 2025. |
Rail usage | The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes a range of statistics including passenger and freight rail performance and usage. Statistics are available at the https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/" class="govuk-link">ORR website. Statistics for rail passenger numbers and crowding on weekdays in major cities in England and Wales are published by DfT. |
ORR’s latest quarterly rail usage statistics, covering January to March 2025, was published in June 2025. DfT’s most recent annual passenger numbers and crowding statistics for 2023 were published in September 2024. |
Bus usage | Bus statistics | The most recent annual publication covered the year ending March 2024. The most recent quarterly publication covered January to March 2025. |
TfL tube and bus usage | Data on buses is covered by the section above. https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/busiest-times-to-travel" class="govuk-link">Station level business data is available. | |
Cycling usage | Walking and cycling statistics, England | 2023 calendar year published in August 2024. |
Cross Modal and journey by purpose | National Travel Survey | 2023 calendar year data published in August 2024. |
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In 2023, the United States registered 995 rail fatalities and around 6,700 non-fatal injuries on the railroads. Injury and fatality numbers had fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, but 2022 saw a resurgence of accidents above pre-pandemic levels. Positive Train Control (PTC) Ever since the enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA), the U.S. rail industry has been working on implementing the Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on over 60,000 miles of the rail network. The original deadline of December 31, 2015 was extended to 2018 after several railroads have stated they are unable to meet the deadline due to technical and legal complications. At the end of 2020, PTC had been implemented on railway routes that were required to do so. The Positive Train Control consists of a bundle of state-of-the-art technologies is meant to avoid accidents caused by human error, track or equipment malfunction, faulty movement of trains through a grade crossing, breaches on railroad tracks and other types of train operator errors. More precisely, PTC aims to prevent train-on-train collisions, deflections caused by excessive speed or other derailments on tracks where maintenance operations are underway. The technology uses a number of factors like weight and length of the train, track composition, train speed and train authorization in order to calculate the adequate stopping distance for a train. The PTC system includes an onboard locomotive system that monitors the position and speed of the train and triggers braking in case of speeding or unapproved train movement; a wayside system to check track signals, switches and track circuits for movement authorization; and a back office server that stores all relevant rail traffic information. Until 2015, 6.4 billion U.S. dollars have been spent for the PTC deployment on over more than 2,300 of track miles and more than 4,500 locomotives. By 2020, the total costs had risen to more than 10 billion U.S. dollars.