Industry News
Railroads Post New Gains in Safety
November 4, 2009 | 03:45 p.m. CST
According to the Federal Railroad Administration's Office of Safety, U.S. rail-related fatalities declined 12.4 percent to a total of 466 in the 12 months ended Aug. 31, reports Railway Age. Only 12 of these were employee fatalities, down 49.5 percent from the prior 12-month period.
Trespassing caused 293 deaths, a decline of 8.8 percent. Highway-rail grade crossing accidents, accountable for 156 lives, also were down 18.3 percent.
The FRA said 724 large and small reporting railroads recorded 7,019 accidents and incidents in the latest 12-month period, down 18.9 percent from the prior 12 months.
Train accidents were down 29.1 percent to 1,222; collisions dropped 28.9 percent to 91; derailments were off 1.1 percent to 867. Yard accidents were down 32.7 percent to 638.
Track causes were blamed for 469 train accidents, down 3.9 percent; human factors for 412, down 32.2 percent; signal causes for 28, down 17.8 percent; and equipment causes for 170, down 17.6 percent.
FRA: Freight Rail Fuel Efficiency Up
Nov. 20, 2009 | 03:05 p.m. CST
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Nov. 19 released a study showing vast improvements in freight rail fuel efficiency over the last two decades, approximately 22 percent between 1990 and 2006. More...
Freight Volume Down During Holiday Week
Nov. 20, 2009 | 02:55 p.m. CST
U.S. railroads reported originating 281,218 carloads for the Veterans Day holiday week ended Nov. 14, down 8.9 percent compared to the same week in 2008 and down 17 percent from from the same week in 2007, reports the Association of American Railroads. More...
New Jersey Transit Joins Safety Pilot Program
Nov. 20, 2009 | 02:40 p.m. CST
New Jersey Transit has started its participation in the Close Call Project, a safety pilot program designed to give rail employees the ability to voluntarily and anonymously report "close call" incidents that could have resulted in an accident but did not. More...
STB: Rails Cut More Jobs
Nov. 18, 2009 | 02:00 p.m. CST
The U.S. lines of the seven Class I railroads trimmed another 408 jobs as of mid-October from a month earlier, taking their total employment level down to a new low. More...
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