FRA: 20 employee fatalities in 2010

March 2, 2011

WASHINGTON — Figures released by the Federal Railroad Administration for 2010 show that 20 rail employees — eight of them UTU members — died in on-duty accidents in 2010. There were 16 on-duty employee deaths in 2009 — eight being UTU members.

Highway-rail grade-crossing and trespassing accidents killed 712 in 2010, the FRA said — 451 of them trespassers on rail property.

In 2010, there were 130 train collisions, down 3.2 percent from 2009, and 1,297 derailments, down 4.4 percent from 2009. Yard accidents totaled 981, down 1.8 percent from 2009.