CN Rail saw a dramatic increase in the number of reported main-line derailments last year, according to a preliminary report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

The number of derailments for Canadian National Railway Co. jumped 35 per cent last year, according to a report in The Globe and Mail, based on the TSB's report.

Meanwhile, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. saw a five-per-cent increase in derailments.

It said CN Rail had 103 main-track derailments in 2005, compared to 76 in 2004, and 56 in 1999. CPR had 66 derailments on main lines last year, up from 63 in 2004 and 37 in 1999, The Globe reported.

There were total of 195 main-track derailments, compared to 152 in 2004, and an average of 133 between 2000 and 2004, according to preliminary transportation occurrence statistics from the TSB.

CN Rail suffered a number of high-profile train derailments last year, some within days of each other.

On Aug. 3, a train derailed along the north shore of Lake Wabamun, west of Edmonton, spilling about 730,000 litres of bunker C fuel oil and a potentially hazardous wood preservation along the short and into the lake.

Just two days later, a CN train derailed at a bridge across the Cheakamus River, just north of Squamish, B.C. Close to 40,000 litres of highly corrosive sodium hydroxide spilled into the river, killing thousands of fish and other wildlife.

Two other derailments occurred along that same stretch of track in October and November of last year, prompting then-federal transport minister Jean Lapierre to order CN to cut the length of its trains to 80 cars.

CN spokesman Mark Hallman, speaking to The Globe ahead of the report's release, said they have increased monitoring of track and equipment. They are also focusing on "employee behaviour, rules compliance and management supervision."

A total of 1,246 rail accidents were reported to the TSB in 2005 -- a nine per cent increase from the 2004 total of 1,138, and an 18 per cent increase from the five-year average of 1,055 between 2004 and 2005.

The TSB report looked at all modes of transportation.

"The marine, pipeline and air modes of transportation show a decrease in reported accidents, compared to 2004, and the rail mode shows an increase," it said in a news release on the Web site.

"The number of marine fatalities decreased from last year, while rail and air fatalities showed an increase."

The accident rate on railways increased to 13.0 accidents per million train-miles in 2005, from 12.3 in 2004 and the 2004-2005 average of 11.7

The TSB said its raw data showed an accident rate of 6.7 accidents per 100,000 flying hours, up from the 2004 rate of 6.5, but down from the five-year rate of 7.3.