Standardise classification and reconcile operator vs mortality data

The proposal

Create a standard classification and reconciliation process linking railway-operator/ERA incident data with national mortality records: shared case definitions, agreed handling of "undetermined intent," and periodic record linkage between transport-safety and public-health datasets. Owned by national statistics offices, coroners/medical examiners, health ministries and rail regulators.

Why it would work

The ~34% gap between operator and mortality counts across 15 EU countries stems largely from classification differences, not real disagreement about events. Reconciling coding surfaces the hidden deaths, giving prevention an accurate denominator and making before/after evaluations trustworthy.

Evidence

The cross-source study documenting the ~34% discrepancy shows the gap is driven by "undetermined intent" coding in mortality data versus none in railway data — a fixable classification problem.

Implementation path

Agree a common case definition; link datasets under data-governance rules; publish a reconciled national rail-suicide series; feed it back into prevention targeting and evaluation.

Trade-offs and limitations

Does not itself prevent any death — it is an enabling/measurement layer; requires inter-agency governance and consistent coroner practice. Its value is unlocking accurate targeting and honest evaluation of every other solution.