Amtrak Rail Trespasser Analysis using a GIS Space-Time Approach

Abstract

This research explores Amtrak trespass incident data from 2011 to 2019 using a GIS spatiotemporal process. The objective is to evaluate incident characteristics based on space, time, incident factors, and statistical significance. Incidents were first analyzed at the megaregional level, revealing Northern and Southern California as the highest trespassing risk in the country, followed by the Northeast and Great Lakes megaregions. A new standardized point density approach was applied to reveal incident clusters representing high-risk localities. Then, the optimized and emerging hot spot methods were applied to the top four megaregions. The results showed four Amtrak corridors as hot spots, including three along coastal California railways and the Philadelphia region. Trends for incident report factors were analyzed (e.g., pre-crash activity, time of day, location of impact). “Walking” prior to impact, occurrence in the “afternoon,” and crash location “on the tracks” were found to be the most prominent incident characteristics for those factors.