FRA Railroad Accidents & Incidents Scraper

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Extract railroad accident and incident reports from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) open data portal. This Actor provides access to over 181,000 accident/incident records dating back to 1975, sourced directly from the U.S. Department of Transportation's official Socrata API.

Use this scraper to analyze railroad safety trends, research specific derailments or collisions, identify high-cost accidents by state or railroad, and build datasets for transportation safety research, insurance risk analysis, regulatory compliance monitoring, and investigative journalism.

Key Features

• 181,000+ accident records from 1975 to present
• Filter by state — target specific states using two-letter abbreviations (TX, CA, OH, etc.)
• Filter by railroad — search by railroad company name (CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, etc.)
• Filter by year range — specify start and end years for targeted analysis
• Filter by accident type — derailments, collisions, highway-rail crossings, fires, and more
• Filter by damage cost — find only high-cost incidents above your threshold
• Detailed casualty data — employees killed/injured, passengers killed/injured, others killed/injured
• Full damage breakdown — equipment damage, track damage, and total damage costs
• Location data — state, county, station, milepost, latitude, longitude
• Environmental context — temperature, visibility, weather conditions
• Train details — speed, tonnage, locomotive count, freight/passenger car counts
• Hazmat tracking — hazmat cars involved and hazmat releases
• Accident narratives — detailed text descriptions when available
• Direct FRA report links — URL to the official Form 54 report for each incident

How to Scrape FRA Railroad Accident Data

1. Go to this Actor's page on the Apify Store
2. Click "Start" to open the input configuration form
3. Set your filters:
   • Enter a State abbreviation (e.g., TX for Texas) or leave blank for all states
   • Enter a Railroad Name (e.g., Union Pacific) or leave blank for all railroads
   • Set Start Year and End Year to narrow the date range
   • Enter an Accident Type (e.g., Derailment) or leave blank for all types
   • Set a Minimum Total Damage Cost to filter for major incidents
   • Set Max Results to control how many records you want (default: 100)
4. Click "Start" to run the Actor
5. Download your data in JSON, CSV, Excel, or other formats from the Dataset tab

Example: Find All Texas Derailments in 2023 with Damage Over $100,000

{
"state":"TX",
"startYear":2023,
"endYear":2023,
"accidentType":"Derailment",
"minDamageCost":100000,
"maxResults":500
}

Example: Find All CSX Accidents Nationwide Since 2020

{
"railroad":"CSX Transportation",
"startYear":2020,
"maxResults":1000
}

Pricing

This Actor uses a pay-per-result pricing model:

Example costs:

• 100 accident records: ~$0.20
• 1,000 accident records: ~$2.00
• 10,000 accident records: ~$20.00

You also pay standard Apify platform compute costs on top of Actor pricing.

Input Parameters

Output Example

{
"reportingRailroadCode":"UP",
"reportingRailroadName":"Union Pacific Railroad Company",
"accidentNumber":"0723GC025",
"year":2023,
"date":"2023-07-17T00:00:00.000",
"time":"6:10 PM",
"accidentTypeCode":"11",
"accidentType":"Fire/violent rupture",
"stateCode":"48",
"stateAbbr":"TX",
"stateName":"TEXAS",
"countyName":"VICTORIA",
"station":"VICTORIA",
"milepost":"221.0",
"latitude":28.805,
"longitude":-96.985,
"temperature":89.0,
"visibility":"Dusk",
"weatherCondition":"Clear",
"trackType":"Yard",
"trackClass":"1",
"trainDirection":"South",
"trainSpeed":10,
"maximumSpeed":10,
"grossTonnage":1394,
"headendLocomotives":1,
"loadedFreightCars":10,
"loadedPassengerCars":0,
"equipmentDamageCost":50000,
"trackDamageCost":0,
"totalDamageCost":50000,
"primaryAccidentCauseCode":"E74L",
"primaryAccidentCause":"Electrically caused fire (LOCOMOTIVE)",
"railroadEmployeesKilled":0,
"railroadEmployeesInjured":0,
"passengersKilled":0,
"passengersInjured":0,
"othersKilled":0,
"othersInjured":0,
"totalPersonsKilled":0,
"totalPersonsInjured":0,
"hazmatCars":0,
"hazmatReleasedCars":0,
"narrative":"AT 6:10 PM A FIRE WAS REPORTED ON A LOCOMOTIVE...",
"reportUrl":"https://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/Officeofsafety/Publicsite/FORM54/F54Report.aspx?..."
}

FAQ

Is it legal to scrape FRA railroad accident data?

Yes. This Actor accesses publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's open data portal. The data is public government data made freely available under open data initiatives. No authentication is required.

How Much Does It Cost to Scrape FRA Data?

See the pricing table above. At $0.002 per result, fetching 1,000 accident records costs approximately $2.00 in Actor fees plus minimal Apify compute costs.

Can I export FRA data to Excel or CSV?

Yes. Apify supports exporting results in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, and other formats directly from the Dataset tab after a run completes.

How often is the FRA data updated?

The FRA updates the Socrata dataset regularly. Most recent data is typically available within a few months of the incident date. You can schedule this Actor to run at any interval.

What date range does the data cover?

The FRA database contains over 181,000 accident/incident records dating back to 1975, with data extending to the present.

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Legal Disclaimer

This Actor extracts publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's open data portal (data.transportation.gov). This is public government data made freely available under open data initiatives. The data is provided "as is" without warranty. Users are responsible for ensuring their use of the data complies with applicable laws and regulations. This Actor does not access any restricted, private, or authenticated data sources.

For questions or support, contact the Actor author through the Apify Store.