WASHINGTON 2012 was the safest year in the railroad industrys history, according to new statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). In 2012, compared to 2011, the train accident rate per million train miles dropped 19 percent, the employee casualty rate fell 9 percent and the grade crossing collision rate dropped 8 percent. According to FRA data, from 1980 to 2012 the U.S. train accident rate fell 80 percent and the U.S. rail employee injury rate fell 85 percent. Since 2000, the declines have been 45 percent and 52 percent, respectively. Train collisions per million train-miles dropped 87 percent since 1980 and 36 percent since 2000. While railroads saw gains in the other safety categories, trespassing deaths increased in 2012. There were a total of 847 reported cases of death or injury to trespassers in 2012, up from 778 in 2011 |