(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on March 12, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. freight railroad operations had their safest year ever in 2009, said the Association of American Railroads.
The industry trade group said preliminary data from the Federal Railroad Administration show record lows for the train accident rate, employee casualty rate and grade crossing incidents.
Accidents and reportable incidents fell from 12,687 in 2008 to 10,529 last year, said FRA, which reports safety figures for the entire U.S. freight and passenger rail industry.
Total fatalities across the rail network, most of which reflect trespassers killed on tracks, fell to 713 in 2009 from 803 the year before.
There were also fewer overall train movements in 2009 due to the recession, but the FRA said the total rate of train accidents also fell to 2.78 per million train miles from 3.2 in 2008.
Just within freight, the AAR said the train accident rate was down 12 percent from the previous record low in 2008, while the employee casualty rate declined 4 percent from 2008’s previous record low. The number of grade crossing collisions on freight rail lines went below 2,000 for the first time, to 1,670, the group said.
The number of rail-related fatalities reported by freight railroads was also a record low at 497, the AAR said, and 93 percent of those deaths “involved either grade crossing collisions or trespassers, incidents over which railroads have little control.”
AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger said the safety figures reflect the commitment by freight railroads to safety of employees and communities they serve.
He credited a strong emphasis on safety by freight rail employees, and near-record investment levels by the carriers into maintenance and upgrades of track, equipment and signal systems.