Abstract: Monitoring index system were not established systematically from perspective of social service management since the existing railway freight safety monitoring indicators in China mainly focus on the internal management of railway transportation company. Based on safety needs of cargo owners, three steps were designed to complete the screening of railway freight safety monitoring system indicators. First, the flow chart analysis method was used to sort out the existing railway freight transport safety monitoring indicators according to the service links and to screen the initial indicators. Secondly, according to the attribute of indicators, the secondary indicators were selected. Finally, the final railway freight transportation safety monitoring indicator system is determined by SNA method, which covers the 4 links of receiving, transporting, delivery and customer service, and reflects 19 indicators by 5 major attributes.

Key words: freight transport, railway transport, safety monitoring, index system, social network analysis (SNA)