Train Derailment and Rail Accident Data: FRA Form 54 Reports

FRA Rail Accident Reports returns US railroad equipment accidents, derailments and collisions from the Federal Railroad Administration's open Form 54 dataset (Rail Equipment Accident/Incident Source Data on data.transportation.gov) as clean flat rows: date, railroad, incident number, accident type, state, county, station, latitude and longitude, cause code, total, equipment and track damage in USD, killed and injured counts, cars damaged, train speed and the reporter's narrative. Filter by year, state, railroad, accident type and minimum damage. No login or API key.

Input

All fields are optional. This example returns derailments in California since 2025 with at least $100,000 in damage:

{
  "sinceYear": 2025,
  "state": "CA",
  "railroad": "UP",
  "accidentType": "Derailment",
  "minDamageUsd": 100000,
  "maxItems": 100
}

• sinceYear: only accidents in this calendar year or later (default 2025).
• state: US state code such as TX or CA. Empty means all states.
• railroad: reporting railroad code such as UP, BNSF, CSX, NS. Empty means all.
• accidentType: any (default), Derailment, Head-on collision, Rear-end collision, Side collision, Raking collision, Broken train collision, Highway-rail crossing, Railroad grade crossing, Obstruction, Explosion-detonation, Fire/violent rupture, Other impacts or Other.
• minDamageUsd: only accidents with at least this much total damage (default 0).
• maxItems: rows to return, newest first (default 100).

Output

One row per reported accident, newest first. Real example row:

{
  "date": "2026-07-31",
  "railroad": "UP",
  "incidentNumber": "0726LA041",
  "accidentType": "Derailment",
  "state": "CA",
  "county": "LOS ANGELES",
  "station": "LONG BEACH",
  "latitude": 33.822599,
  "longitude": -118.226343,
  "causeCode": "T403",
  "totalDamageUsd": 168137,
  "equipmentDamageUsd": 164317,
  "trackDamageUsd": 3820,
  "totalKilled": 0,
  "totalInjured": 0,
  "carsDamaged": 0,
  "trainSpeedMph": 2,
  "narrative": "LOI21-31 CREW WAS SHOVING WEST DOWN 901 INTO 802 AS THE DTTX620643 INTERMODAL CAR CLEARED THE 802/80 1 SWITCH THE C/B WELLS ON DTTX620643 DERAILED DUE TO TRACK CONFIGURATION. **INDUSTRY MAINTAINS TRACK **",
  "url": "https://data.transportation.gov/dataset/Form-54-Source-Table/aqxq-n5hy"
}

Use cases

Search phrases this actor is built for:

• "Train derailment data": set accidentType to Derailment and a sinceYear.
• "Railroad accident reports by railroad and state": set railroad (for example BNSF) and state to compare incidents.
• "FRA Form 54 rail equipment accidents with damage": use minDamageUsd to rank the costliest accidents.

Typical users are rail-safety analysts, insurers and claims teams, law firms, journalists, emergency planners and shipper risk teams. It also works as a tool for AI agents through the Apify MCP server.

Pricing

Pay per result: each accident row returned is one billable result, listed at $0.002 per row ($2 per 1,000). Set a maximum charge on the run for a hard ceiling.

Limits

• Data is as reported by railroads to the FRA and may be revised by the FRA; recent accidents can lag the filing deadline.
• Only the Form 54 equipment accident/incident dataset is covered, not highway-rail crossing or casualty-only datasets.
• cause is returned as the FRA cause code, not a description.
• maxItems is capped at 50,000 per run.

FAQ

Where does the data come from? The FRA Rail Equipment Accident/Incident Source Data (Form 54), published by the US Department of Transportation.

Which railroads can I filter by? Use the FRA reporting code, for example UP, BNSF, CSX, NS.

Are results sorted? Yes, newest first.