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U.S. railroads continued to prevent train accidents and employee injuries during 2006’s first four months. The train accident rate decreased 24.3 percent and employee casualty rate dropped 14.3 percent compared with the same 2005 period, according to preliminary Federal Railroad Administration data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

“This continues the trend from last year, when the train accident rate dropped by 8 percent and the employee casualty rate was the lowest in history,” said AAR President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Hamberger in a prepared statement. “What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that railroads are moving record volumes of freight at the same time they are hiring thousands of new employees.”

Meanwhile, rail-related fatalities totaled 287, an 8 percent decrease compared with 2005’s first four months. In addition, the number of employee fatalities dropped by two-thirds to three, grade crossing fatalities declined 6.7 percent to 112 and the grade crossing incident rate fell 3 percent. However, the rate of trespasser incidents rose slightly from 1.04 to 1.05 per million train miles.