Newly released 2025 data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) show that freight rail safety continued to improve across nearly every major category, marking the safest year on record for the industry. The data reinforce that sustained private investment, advanced technology deployment, and a highly trained and committed workforce are delivering real, measurable safety outcomes across the national freight rail network—strengthening supply chain reliability and supporting affordability across the economy. Even with this progress, freight railroads remain committed to continued improvement and further advancing safety performance across the system.
According to FRA data, the overall train accident rate declined 14 percent year over year, while derailments, equipment-caused accidents, and track-caused accidents each fell to their lowest levels in the industry’s history. Human factors–related accidents declined nearly 20 percent year over year, reflecting sustained progress driven in part by expanded deployment of automation, advanced monitoring systems, and data-informed operating practices designed to reduce risk and support frontline employees.
Class I railroads also achieved their lowest employee injury rate ever in 2025, continuing a multi-decade trend of improved safety outcomes led by disciplined operations, advanced technology, and comprehensive training. While these results mark meaningful progress, railroads remain clear that safety improvement is never complete and that ongoing investment and innovation are essential to driving risk even lower—while keeping the freight network efficient and cost-stable for the businesses and communities it serves.
The 2025 data show broad-based improvement across nearly every major safety metric, with the overall train accident rate down 14 percent and derailments declining 13.6 percent year over year. These notable improvements were driven by a 19.7 percent decline in human factors-related incidents and a 12.1 percent decline in equipment-caused accidents, while track-caused accidents continued their long-term decline, down 7.7 percent year over year. Mainline accidents declined 2.8 percent industry-wide and 6.1 percent among Class I railroads, reflecting outsized gains on the main track.
The 2025 data also reinforce the freight rail industry’s long-term safety trajectory. Since 2005, overall train accident rates are down approximately 40 percent; derailments have declined by about 46 percent, and mainline accidents are down roughly 37 percent industry-wide and 44 percent among Class I railroads. Track-caused accidents have fallen 53 percent, while human factors-related accidents are down 41 percent. On the workforce side, Class I employee casualty rates have declined 54 percent, reaching a record low in 2025, and on-duty fatalities have fallen roughly 67 percent over the same period.
While overall safety performance continues to improve, some challenges remain. Grade crossing incidents were essentially flat year over year and show only modest long-term improvement, underscoring the need for continued collaboration in shared risk areas that extend beyond railroad operations alone. Programs such as the Grade Crossing Elimination Program and Section 130 grants play an important role in advancing measurable safety outcomes nationwide, particularly in areas where risk reduction depends on partnership, targeted investment, and policies that reinforce what is proven to work.
Further reductions in human factor–related accidents could also be accelerated through broader deployment of automation and advanced safety technologies. However, many rail operations remain governed by prescriptive regulations dating back to 1971, limiting the industry’s ability to fully implement modern, performance-based safety innovations.
Maintaining and advancing safety across the nation’s 140,000-mile freight rail network requires continued investment in infrastructure, workforce training, and advanced safety technology. Because freight railroads own, build, and maintain the infrastructure they operate on, these investments support long-term cost efficiency and supply chain stability. Each year, the industry invests an average of $23 billion of its own capital—six times more than the average U.S. manufacturer as a share of revenue—to strengthen and modernize this essential network.
-via Press Release
