ABSTRACT
Emergency occurrence during the freight rail transport does not necessarily have to be and frequently is not affected by the type of the material transported; however, in case that such an emergency occurs, the category of the substance transported may indicate an increased risk; in particular, the risk of explosions, fire, and significant threat to property and people. Leakage of any substance, in particular a hazardous substance, represents a significant part of all emergency cases at rail transport. Despite the seemingly decreasing number of these risky threats, every single incident has to be investigated and analysed. After examining every case in question, it was found out that the leaked substance was not classified hazardous because it was either plain water or frequently leaking operating fluids. Nevertheless, every leakage has to be thoroughly investigated because it is not clear beforehand what category the substance belongs to. Our aim was to identify crucial factors resulting in emergency cases occurrence on the railway in the Czech Republic through a detailed examination of past incidents. Most of these factors are the same for railway transport in general; however, there may be particular local specificities and organizational faults in individual transport units. Another goal of research consisted in revealing these specifics.
