Accident
An unwanted or unintended sudden event or a specific chain of such events which have harmful consequences; accidents are divided into the following categories: collisions, derailments, level-crossing accidents, accidents to persons caused by rolling stock in motion, fires and others;
Incident
Any occurrence, other than accident or serious accident, associated with the operation of trains and affecting the safety of operation;
Investigation
A process conducted for the purpose of accident and incident prevention which includes the gathering and analysis of information, the drawing of conclusions, including the determination of causes and, when appropriate, the making of safety recommendations.
Serious accident
Any train collision or derailment of trains, resulting in the death of at least one person or serious injuries to five or more persons or extensive damage to rolling stock, the infrastructure or the environment, and any other similar accident with an obvious impact on railway safety regulation or the management of safety; “extensive damage” means damage that can immediately be assessed by an investigation body to cost at least 2 million euros in total;
« Serious» accident / incident level 1
Any type of accident / incident resulting:
- in the death of at least one person or
- serious injuries to five or more persons or
- causing extensive damage to the rolling stock, to the infrastructure or to the environment; “extensive damage” meaning damage that the investigation unit can immediately estimate at a value of at least EUR two million in total.
« Significant » accident / incident level 2
Any type of accident / incident resulting:
- in serious injuries to at least one person or
- causing damages assessed to be worth at least EUR 150.000 or
- suspension of rail traffic for over six hours.
« Other » accident / incident level 3
Accidents and incidents that do not fall into the other two categories.