Passenger rail transportation across the country has a strong safety record with a national accident fatality rate of 0.08 per 100 million passenger miles, about one-tenth that of motor vehicles per 100 million VMT. There is important remaining work, however, to further improve the rail safety record.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission exercises an important oversight function in railroad safety and has excellent information about programs and issues on their web site at http://www.wutc.wa.gov/.
Source: WSDOT