EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS OF RISK FACTORS IN RAILWAY ACCIDENTS IN TÜRKİYE

The main purpose of transportation is to transport passengers and cargo in the shortest possible time, safely and economically. In order to achieve this goal, the safety factor constitutes one of the most basic elements of transportation. In recent years, many countries have made various legal regulations to increase the safety and efficiency of the railway sector and have produced targets and policies to reduce railway accidents and loss of life. In this study, the current situation of the number of accidents, deaths, and types of accidents occurring in Turkish railways was shown, and a statistical comparison was made with the European Union (EU). When we evaluate it from Türkiye’s perspective, it seems that it has some deficiencies in this regard compared to the European Union countries. The main purpose of the study is to examine railway accidents in Türkiye. In this context, the factors that may cause an accident are classified into 58 parameters. AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) from MCDM (Multi Criteria Decision Method) and L-Decision Matrix were used, and risk analysis was carried out by scoring likelihood and severity. Risk analysis was evaluated for the first time in Türkiye by employees of investor companies, investor organizations, and consultancy firms that built railways. In conclusion, the riskiest activity of the sector stakeholders that constitute the infrastructure was determined as uncontrolled entrances of pedestrians to level crossings as a high risk with the L-Decision Matrix method and the B4 risk index score. By using the AHP method, it is obtained uncontrolled pedestrian access to level crossings has a risk importance weight of p = 0.28 (0-1), and uncontrolled access to the road due to closures has a risk importance weight of p = 0.21. (0-1). Suggestions were made to prevent accidents.