(The Association of American Railroads issued the following news release on November 3.)
WASHINGTON — New government statistics show significant gains for railroad safety in 2005, building on an industry safety record that has improved dramatically over the past two decades.
Data released by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) show an 11.6 percent increase in overall rail safety – as measured by the train accident rate – for the first eight months of 2005 compared with the same period last year. Employee injury rates were down 16.1 percent from the same time period in 2004 – the safest year for employees in the history of the railroad industry.
“Much of this progress can be tied to the rail industry’s investment in new technology and in employee training,” said Edward R. Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads. “We will continue to push for ways to make the rail network even safer for our employees and the communities we serve.”
Freight rail is by far the safest way to move goods and products across the country. Over the past 24 years, the rail industry has reduced accident rates by 63 percent and employee injury rates by 77 percent.
And the industry is currently working closely with labor and the FRA to reduce accidents caused by human error – the leading cause of train accidents.
“Railroads have been working on this safety issue for a number of months in order to reduce these human factor accidents,” said Hamberger. “Because most train accidents occur as the result of human error, we are working to improve procedures, technologies and training on our rail network.”