Estimation of rail accident cost reflecting cost of business suspension and compensation

Abstract

A preemptive and preventive safety management system is needed in the railway safety management system in Korea. To this end, evaluating the safety investment from the perspective of social benefit is critical. This study aims at the improvement of unit cost of rail accidents. Based on a review of domestic research, the most appropriate basic cost was compared and selected. Then, we found cost factors that have not been introduced in Korea. Then, factors that can be newly introduced were revealed; they are the cost of business suspension and compensation. These cost factors were added to the unit cost using related resources. As a result of this, it was found that the unit cost of fatalities increased by 5.75% and the cost of injured persons by 4.99%. Lastly, suggestions for the introduction of the remaining unintroduced cost factors are presented. © 2019 The Korean Society for Railway. All rights reserved.