Trust, Public-Private Partnerships, and Transportation Safety: Applicability of the Aviation Model for Rail Transportation
Abstract
With a continuous decline in fatal accidents since the 1950s, the aviation industry during themid-1990s viewed aviation as an extremely safe mode of transportation. High-profile accidents by United States air carriers that occurred during 1994 to 1996 however called into question whether the aviation accident record could reliably stand as the measure of safety health and culture. As a result, the Federal Aviation Administration undertook a unique approach to collaborating with industry to promote aviation safety by developing rigorous Safety Management Systems. This effort culminated in a highly successful public-private partnership devoted to continuous improvement in aviation safety. The Department of Transportation recognizes the success of the aviation model, wants to build on that success, and is proactively looking for opportunities to use the lessons learned from aviation in the rest of the transportation system. Given the many similarities between air and rail transportation, recent high-profile railroad accidents raise the question of whether rail transportation may benefit from using aviation's collaborative approach to safety. This paper describes the factors contributing to the success of that approach, including instilling a safety management system and culture, evolving the regulatory and legal framework, and collaboratively sharing and learning from data. Through the sponsorship of the Federal Aviation Administration, The MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development pioneered safety data sharing and analytics to identify and address proactively accident precursors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1107992
Entities
People
- Gregory Orrell
- Laurence Audenaerd
- Patricia Massimini
Organizations
- MITRE Corporation