November 1, 1995
Web posted at: 8:40 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal safety officials are calling for a nationwide inspection of 1,400 railroad crossings where traffic signals are activated by approaching trains.
The National Transportation Safety Board urged the
inspections in recommendations issued Tuesday night in the
wake of the October 25 crash in the Chicago suburb of Fox
River Grove, Illinois, which left seven high school students
dead and more than two dozen injured.
In that accident, investigators have concluded the rear of the 38-foot bus hung over the tracks when it stopped at a red light 30 feet from the nearest rail. A Chicago-bound Metra commuter train was unable to brake before slamming into the bus. The train was supposed to have triggered the traffic signal to turn to green in time for the bus to pull away.
The NTSB said that while it has not yet completed its investigation, "it is concerned that the railroad-highway traffic signal control guidelines may permit the signal timing conditions illustrated in this accident."
The safety board also called on federal and state transportation authorities to take immediate corrective action to repair those crossings found to lack sufficient time for vehicles to safely clear them.
There are 180,000 grade crossings on a Federal Railroad Administration inventory. Of those, the NTSB said, about 1,400 have a train-activated warning device that is linked with a highway traffic signal.
"Of those 1,400, there were over 5,000 accidents involving approximately 415 highway vehicle occupant fatalities" between 1982 and 1994, the agency said.
The NTSB has asked the Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the track on which the accident occurred, to "immediately initiate a temporary speed restriction through the Fox River Grove area" until preventative measures are taken.
The NTSB is an independent agency with no enforcement powers. But governmental bodies and transportation companies generally follow its recommendations.
A spokesman with the Illinois Department of Transportation said a state signal engineer was at the station evaluating the light's timing when the accident occurred.
State records indicate that the signal had been checked repeatedly by repair workers, but they had never visited during the scheduled times for any of the 11 daily commuter trains that speed through the intersection.
Residents have said that no changes were made despite their complaints that the traffic signal gave drivers little or no time to pull away from the crossing before a train barreled through. The spokesman said it was unclear whether anyone understood the potential problem before the accident.
Investigators said the timing problem was apparent only with fast-moving trains, ones residents call "fliers" that speed through the village without stopping at the downtown railroad station.
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