RailRisk Advisor: A Web-GIS Tool for Assessing Railroad Trespassing Risk and Recommending Countermeasures
Trespassing is the leading cause of rail-related deaths in the United States. According to the Federal Railroad Administration, more than 500 trespass fatalities occur nationally each year (Trespass Prevention, 2025). The number of trespassing occurrences on railroad property each year far exceeds the number of fatalities, which means that there is potential for more trespasser accidents. This proposal aims to develop a RailRisk Advisor, a web geographic information system (GIS)-based system, to enhance railroad safety by identifying and analyzing high-risk railroad segments for trespassing incidents. Using geospatial data, historical trespassing records, and contextual factors (such as train volume, train speed, land use, and population density), a data-driven model will be developed for calculating the risk score of each railroad segment. The calculated risk levels will be validated by comparing historical incident data. Advanced spatiotemporal analytics and predictive modeling will be employed to provide a user-friendly platform for detecting and visualizing risk hotspots, conducting interactive analyses, and developing targeted mitigation strategies. Finally, the platform will be made accessible through an interactive web-GIS based dashboard. The dashboard will feature tools for data querying, visualizing, analyzing, and reporting railroad risk data. The proposed RailRisk Advisor could potentially change the way railroad trespassing risks are managed by shifting from reactive to proactive strategies. By leveraging data-driven insights, transportation agencies can prioritize interventions, optimize resource allocation, and implement targeted countermeasures.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $100,000.00
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Contract Numbers:
IDEA-61
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Sponsor Organizations:
Federal Railroad Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Managing Organizations:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Project Managers:
Jawed, Inam
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Performing Organizations:
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
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Principal Investigators:
Chen, Yuting
- Start Date: 20260701
- Expected Completion Date: 20271230
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: Rail Safety IDEA Program
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Geographic information systems; Predictive models; Railroad safety; Risk assessment; Spatial analysis; Trespassers; Web applications
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 02001763
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
- Contract Numbers: IDEA-61
- Files: TRB, RIP
- Created Date: Sep 4 2026 8:29AM