RAIL STATISTICS - 2003

APPENDIX B - DEFINITIONS

The following definitions apply to railway occurrences that are required to be reported pursuant to the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act and the associated regulations.

Railway Occurrence

1. Any accident or incident associated with the operation of rolling stock on a railway, and
2. Any situation or condition that the Board has reasonable grounds to believe could, if left unattended, induce an accident or incident described in paragraph (a) above.

Reportable Railway Accident

An accident resulting directly from the operation of rolling stock, where:

1. a person sustains a serious injury or is killed as a result of:
   1. being on board or getting off the rolling stock, or
   2. coming into contact with any part of the rolling stock or its contents, or
2. the rolling stock:
   1. is involved in a grade-crossing collision,
   2. is involved in a collision or derailment and is carrying passengers,
   3. is involved in a collision or derailment and is carrying dangerous goods, or is known to have last contained dangerous goods, the residue of which has not been purged from the rolling stock,
   4. sustains damage that affects its safe operation, or
   5. causes or sustains a fire or explosion, or causes damage to the railway, that poses a threat to the safety of any person, property or the environment.

Reportable Railway Incident

An incident resulting directly from the operation of rolling stock, where:

1. a risk of collision occurs;
2. an unprotected main-track switch is left in an abnormal position;
3. a railway signal displays a less restrictive indication than that required for the intended movement of rolling stock;
4. an unprotected overlap of operating authorities occurs;
5. a movement of rolling stock exceeds the limits of its authority;
6. there is runaway rolling stock;
7. any crew member whose duties are directly related to the safe operation of the rolling stock is unable to perform the crew member's duties as a result of a physical incapacitation that poses a threat to the safety of any person, property or the environment; or
8. any dangerous goods are released on board or from the rolling stock.

Serious Injury

An injury that is likely to require admission to a hospital.

Dangerous Goods Involvement

An accident is considered to have dangerous goods involvement if any car in the consist carrying (or having last contained) a dangerous good derails, strikes or is struck by any other rolling stock or object. It does not mean that there was any release of any product. Also included are crossing accidents in which the motor vehicle involved (e.g., a tanker truck) is carrying a dangerous good.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Accidents by Railway

Accident totals are not presented by railway. The track, train and personnel in an occurrence may all belong to different companies; also an occurrence may have several contributing factors. Presenting data based purely on one of these criteria or factors would be misleading, and misinterpretation of data by readers could unfairly affect a company's competitive position.

Please refer to the Table of Contents for other sections of this summary.