As of October, the FRA has recorded 742 incident reports for train derailments in 2023. Additionally, railroads reported 59 collisions, 12 fires, and 138 highway-rail-crossing incidents, which could include cars or any other vehicles or people at the crossing site.

In 2023, the United States saw a total of approximately 742 to 1,259 train derailments, depending on the reporting threshold used by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). While high-profile incidents like the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment in February 2023 drew massive media attention, statistics show that derailments have actually decreased by over 75% since the late 1970s. On a global scale, tens of thousands of minor derailments occur annually in freight yards and industrial sidings that never make the news because they result in no injuries or chemical leaks. In 2023, the vast majority of these incidents were "minor," involving a single wheel coming off a track at low speeds during switching operations. However, the 2023 data spurred significant new safety legislation in 2024 and 2025, mandating advanced hot-bearing detectors and shorter train lengths to prevent the mechanical failures that typically cause these accidents.