The Nation : Study Disputes Railroad Safety Figures

A study of five major companies suggests some of the nation’s railroads are under-reporting accidents and injuries and failing to keep proper records on such incidents, the General Accounting Office said. The study concluded that the shortcomings were because of inadequate internal railroad procedures, some of which have since been corrected. The GAO, the congressional investigative agency, did not accuse any of the railroads of purposely withholding information from the Federal Railroad Administration. Nonetheless, the investigators said the problem “raises questions about the overall effectiveness of FRA’s safety program.” Dan Lang, a spokesman for the Assn. of American Railroads, said “there could be room for disagreement” over whether particular accidents satisfied the thresholds for injury and damage above which federal regulations require a report to the FRA.