Massachusetts Rail Incident Report

Overview

This section summarizes accepted, public-default rail incidents recorded in Massachusetts.

The highest annual count in the displayed data is 124 in 1978. The lowest annual count is 14 in 2012.

Counts use accepted events marked eligible for combined public counting; Form 54 highway-rail type 07 records are excluded to avoid double counting Form 57 events.

Incident Trends

Monthly incident counts for the exact rolling 18-calendar-month window used by the explorer, from 2025-03-01 through 2026-08-31.

The highest monthly count in the displayed data is 8 in 2025-05. The lowest monthly count is 0 in 2025-09.

When Incidents Occur

Historical accepted events grouped by calendar month and day of week using the processed event date.

The highest calendar-month count in the displayed data is 246 in December. The lowest calendar-month count is 156 in September. The highest weekday count in the displayed data is 410 in Friday. The lowest weekday count is 224 in Saturday.

Calendar Month

Day Of Week

These are descriptive calendar counts only; no causal or risk conclusion is calculated.

Incident Mix Over Time

Annual counts split the combined report set into highway-rail crossing events, derailments, and other Form 54 rail-equipment events.

Across the displayed years, the report set contains 1,092 highway-rail crossing events, 754 derailments, and 482 other Form 54 rail-equipment events.

Fatalities And Injuries

Annual totals use event-level processed casualty measures available in the project database.

The highest annual fatality count in the displayed data is 6 in 2017 and 2025. The lowest annual fatality count is 0 in 13 displayed periods. The highest annual injury count in the displayed data is 172 in 1990. The lowest annual injury count is 0 in 1995.

When contributing FRA reports disagree on an event-level casualty value, no replacement total is fabricated; unresolved values are omitted from these sums.

Damage Distribution

Form 54 physical events grouped by their agreed documented total damage cost.

The distribution includes 1,237 Form 54 physical events with an agreed documented event-level total damage cost.

This report uses the processed Form 54 total damage cost only. It does not combine unlike Form 57 vehicle-damage measures into the same distribution.

Derailments

Accepted Form 54 events whose processed accident-type description identifies a derailment.

The highest annual derailment count in the displayed data is 46 in 1978. The lowest annual derailment count is 4 in 2021 and 2026.

Highway-Rail Crossing Incidents

Accepted Form 57 highway-rail grade crossing events recorded in the state.

The highest annual crossing-incident count in the displayed data is 67 in 1975. The lowest annual crossing-incident count is 4 in 2009.

Recent 18-Month Crossing Activity

Current open crossings grouped by the exact same rolling 18-month qualifying processed event set used by the explorer map.

Among 2,539 current open crossings in the state inventory, 2,512 have no qualifying events, 25 have one, and 2 have two or more in the rolling window 2025-03-01 through 2026-08-31.

The map/report invariant is 0 events = gray, 1 = orange, and 2+ = red. Counts use distinct processed physical event IDs; contributing FRA report rows are not double counted.

Repeat Crossing History

Crossings that appear in more than one accepted processed physical event across the historical report set.

205 crossings in the state have more than one accepted, combined-count-eligible processed physical event in the historical report set.

This is a historical occurrence count, not a safety or risk rating.

Incident Causes

The most frequently recorded primary causes among Form 54 physical events for which contributing reports agree on one nonblank primary cause.

47 Form 54 events with multiple nonblank primary-cause values across contributing reports are not assigned an invented event-level cause.

Railroads And Operators

Physical events are counted once for each railroad represented by a contributing FRA report. One event can therefore appear under more than one railroad.

Counties And Locations

Counties with the largest numbers of accepted, combined-count-eligible events in the state.

Reported Disagreements / Data Conflicts

Fields for which contributing FRA source/report records disagree on accepted individual physical events.

65 accepted, combined-count-eligible physical events in this state have at least one stored source/report discrepancy.

A discrepancy does not mean the physical event was rejected. Conflicting source values are preserved and disclosed rather than replaced with an invented value.

Recent Rail Incidents

The most recent accepted, combined-count-eligible events in the processed dataset for this state, ordered by event date.