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Adding the final month of preliminary safety data to 2003's first 11 months didn't alter a year-long trend for U.S. railroads. Last year, highway-rail incidents, total accidents/incidents, and employee and trespasser fatalities and injuries dropped, but train accidents increased compared with 2002, according to Federal Railroad Administration's January-to-December preliminary data.

During 2003, highway-rail incidents totaled 2,909, decreasing 5.5 percent compared with 2002's 3,077. Employee fatalities dropped 5 percent from 20 to 19; non-fatal employee injuries, 10 percent, from 6,644 to 5,948; trespasser fatalities, 6.1 percent, from 540 to 507; and non-fatal trespasser injuries, 1 percent, from 395 to 391.

U.S. roads also reduced total accidents/incidents 4.8 percent, from 14,404 to 13,706; total fatalities, 9.2 percent, from 951 to 863; and total non-fatal injuries, 21.7 percent, from 11,103 to 8,693 compared with 2002.

However, train accidents totaled 2,899, increasing 5.9 percent compared with 2,738 accidents in 2002. Miscellaneous and signal causes, and human factors led to more accidents, increasing 20 percent, 14 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively. Equipment causes and collisions increased 6.5 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.