(Washington, D.C. – October 3, 2011)
Statistics released Monday by the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Safety Analysis, reflecting railroad-related accidents and deaths occurring in the first seven months of 2011, showed few real surprises outside of the fact that total railroad fatalities declined minimally 3.5% to 415.
Among those stats was a decline in railroad employee fatalities from 12 this year, compared to 13 for the same period in 2010, even though there have been several traumatic and multiple death incidents suffered by that group this year. While railroad pedestrian (termed “trespassers” by the FRA) deaths dropped 6.5%, fatalities resultant from grade crossing accidents increased by 4.1% to 151 total.
