The National Transportation Safety Board reported that 733 people were killed in 2016 in railroad related accidents, an increase from the 708 who died in 2015.
Most of the fatalities, 487, involved people trespassing on railroad property.
Total transportation-related fatalities in 2016 were also up by 2,030 over 2015.
Highway accidents claimed the lives of 95 percent of the 39,339 who died last year.
“Unfortunately, we continue to see increases in transportation fatalities,” said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt. “We can do more, we must do more, to eliminate the completely preventable accidents that claim so many lives each year.”
He called for implementation of the 315 open safety recommendations related to the agency’s most wanted list of transportation safety improvements
The list includes such recommendations as reducing fatigue-related accidents and improving transit-rail safety oversight.
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