Accidents, Injuries and Fatalities on U.S. Transit Rail Systems
From 2002 to 2009, transit rail accidents on major subways, light rails and metros have been on the rise, according to the Federal Transit Administration. Using data from the National Transit Database, this interactive graphic shows chances of being in an accident on transit rail systems across the country.
Restored from the five original saved datasets. The figures below describe historical reporting, not current travel safety. Original place names and values are preserved.
The “original annual estimate” reproduces the original site's calculation from historical total incidents, passenger miles and the selected weekly distance. It is not an independently validated probability of injury or death.
How the original estimate is reproduced
The original interface called this “Odds of injury or death in one year.” Its code uses total incidents, rather than the separate injury and fatality fields: annual distance = weekly miles × 52; displayed “1 in N” = round(passenger miles ÷ (total incidents × annual distance)). No incidents is displayed as “None reported.” This restoration applies that calculation to individual saved location records; the old map combined records when markers overlapped.
44 original records are available in the table below.
Each circle represents one saved location record. Circle sizes are equal; overlapping locations can be selected individually from the table.
Choose “Show location” in the table to highlight a record.
| City | State | Total incidents | Injuries | Fatalities | Passenger miles | Original annual estimate | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memphis | TN | 43 | 36 | 0 | 8505984.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-90.0489801 35.1495343) |
| New York | NY | 12413 | 10181 | 92 | 19996229446.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-74.0059731 40.7143528) |
| Las Vegas | NV | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4435740.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-115.172816 36.114646) |
| Baltimore | MD | 143 | 185 | 7 | 884761292.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-76.6121893 39.2903848) |
| Washington | DC | 2642 | 2336 | 51 | 12245734061.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-77.0363658 38.8951118) |
| San Diego | CA | 110 | 91 | 22 | 1498478523.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-117.1572551 32.7153292) |
| Staten Island | NY | 138 | 131 | 5 | 246645202.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-74.1495875 40.5834379) |
| San Francisco | CA | 754 | 738 | 14 | 1022181636.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-122.4194155 37.7749295) |
| Denver | CO | 52 | 47 | 2 | 627508470.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-104.9847034 39.7391536) |
| St. Louis | MO | 288 | 282 | 2 | 1041476719.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-90.224967 38.646991) |
| Oceanside | CA | 5 | 4 | 1 | 14933568.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-117.3794834 33.1958696) |
| Buffalo | NY | 200 | 196 | 2 | 113401510.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-78.8783689 42.8864468) |
| Chicago | IL | 3917 | 3036 | 46 | 8894148340.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-87.6500523 41.850033) |
| Seattle | WA | 89 | 79 | 2 | 17975886.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-122.3320708 47.6062095) |
| Jersey City | NJ | 888 | 392 | 0 | 2489432186.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-74.0776417 40.7281575) |
| Miami | FL | 603 | 513 | 19 | 1086750814.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-80.2264393 25.7889689) |
| New Orleans | LA | 215 | 155 | 2 | 62289452.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-90.0705556 29.9647222) |
| Kenosha | WI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 487287.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-87.8211854 42.5847425) |
| Boston | MA | 4018 | 2869 | 24 | 5821443663.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-71.0597732 42.3584308) |
| Chattanooga | TN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3303706.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-85.3096801 35.0456297) |
| Detroit | MI | 56 | 49 | 0 | 21923334.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-83.0457538 42.331427) |
| Los Angeles | CA | 1209 | 1005 | 51 | 3646775863.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-118.2436849 34.0522342) |
| Atlanta | GA | 1691 | 1588 | 7 | 4151005350.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-84.3879824 33.7489954) |
| Cleveland | OH | 231 | 182 | 6 | 566305305.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-81.6954088 41.4994954) |
| Oakland | CA | 4489 | 4390 | 28 | 10380339385.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-122.2708026 37.8043722) |
| San Juan | PR | 597 | 759 | 0 | 181101239.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-66.1057217 18.4663338) |
| Charlotte | NC | 8 | 21 | 0 | 27013282.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-80.8431267 35.2270869) |
| North Little Rock | AR | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1222929.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-92.2670941 34.769536) |
| San Jose | CA | 55 | 41 | 11 | 323317975.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-121.8949555 37.3393857) |
| Jacksonville | FL | 14 | 21 | 1 | 1974253.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-81.655651 30.3321838) |
| Minneapolis | MN | 68 | 53 | 8 | 293245820.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-93.2638361 44.9799654) |
| Dallas | TX | 188 | 166 | 10 | 1025226219.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-96.769923 32.802955) |
| Johnstown | PA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 121237.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-78.9219698 40.3267407) |
| Galveston | TX | 1 | 0 | 0 | 319243.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-94.7976958 29.3013479) |
| Newark | NJ | 32 | 34 | 3 | 499973965.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-74.1723667 40.735657) |
| Brooklyn | NY | 22565 | 14224 | 137 | 50417665806.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-73.95 40.65) |
| Tampa | FL | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5842975.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-82.4651441 27.949436) |
| Pittsburgh | PA | 102 | 55 | 1 | 259760798.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-79.9958864 40.4406248) |
| Houston | TX | 150 | 188 | 1 | 154750001.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-95.3830615 29.7628844) |
| Sacramento | CA | 157 | 113 | 9 | 540260786.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-121.4943996 38.5815719) |
| Philadelphia | PA | 6250 | 3511 | 26 | 3661106352.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-75.163789 39.952335) |
| Portland | OR | 261 | 240 | 9 | 1450950502.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-122.6762071 45.5234515) |
| Salt Lake City | UT | 184 | 135 | 10 | 561751303.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-111.8910474 40.7607793) |
| Lindenwold | NJ | 318 | 277 | 3 | 666025252.0 | Available with the interactive controls | POINT(-74.99 39.8158333) |
Source: Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database. Reported by Ben Giles; produced by Micah Jamison / NEWS21.
Download the original saved datasets
- All transit rail — original JSON
- Unmanned Metro & Subway — original JSON
- Metro & Subway — original JSON
- Cable Tram — original JSON
- Light Rail — original JSON
The “All” dataset and mode-specific datasets overlap and should not be added together.