Rail-related fatalities up 18.5% in two months
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief Fatalities caused by grade crossing collisions and trespassing are making U.S. railroads look far less safe than they are.
Acceding to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Safety Analysis, the 109 fatalities reported by 714 railroads in January and February 2011 included 105 that were essentially beyond the railroads’ control.
These were the 51 fatalities that occurred at rail-highway grade crossings, up 45.37% from the same period last year, and 53 trespasser deaths, a decline of 3.6%. The first two months of this year saw a total of 1,788 incidents, a decline of 9.5% from the year-ago period.
Train accidents were down 9.2% to 307; derailments declined 5.8% to 226; and yard accidents dropped 10% to 162.
