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December 30, 1999 9:45 AM, EST

The rail industry’s safety record for 1999 is on track to improve from 1998, despite safety concerns raised by rail mergers, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s top executive.

Jolene M. Molitoris, who heads the agency, released statistics for the first nine months of 1999, in which the figures showed a decline in injuries and fatalities over the same period a year earlier. She gave reporters the information during a Dec. 16 interview.

The number of accidents for every million train-miles declined 0.8%, from 3.85 in the first nine months of 1998 to 3.82 in 1999. However, the number of accidents in-creased 2.3% over the nine-month period, from 1,963 to 2,008, the agency reported.

Highway-rail crossing incidents also showed a decline, Molitoris said. The number of incidents between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 was 2,555, down 3.6% from the same period in 1998. In addition, the number of grade-crossing fatalities dropped from 337 to 282.

For the full story, see the Dec. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. .