February 23, 1999
Web posted at: 8:11 a.m. EST (1311 GMT)

In this story: Fatalities on rise Danger: hazardous material Technology could save lives Rail industry responds People drive around railroad gates RELATED STORIES, SITES

NORTH EAST, Maryland (CNN) -- As a group of officials asked Congress on Monday to investigate the safety of railroad crossings, this small community mourned the death of a teen-age girl killed over the weekend after she saved a 5-year-old boy from being struck by a train.

Krystal Marie Donlon, 14, died on a railroad bridge Saturday during a family outing. When a train rounded the bend, other family members escaped by lying down and holding onto the bridge railings.

But after Marcus Boyle ran off, Krystal chased him, grabbed him by the coat and threw him out of the way.

The train struck her. The engineer didn't know anyone had been hit until he was ordered to stop.

While that accident is still under investigation, a study released Monday by RailWatch, a Texas-based coalition of 300 local officials from across the country, concludes that federal and state regulators fail to effectively oversee the rail system, and railroad companies do not take enough action to prevent accidents.

Rail crossings were the sites of more than 500 deaths and 1,800 injuries in 1998.

The study said a train collides with a motor vehicle every 90 minutes in the United States. It blames reductions in maintenance crews and outdated technology for poor safety on the nation's railroads.

The report, which calls for a congressional investigation into rail safety, says that more than 80 percent of public railroad crossings don't have lights and gates.

As a result, more than 90 percent of rail-related fatalities involve either a grade crossing or trespassers.

According to the report, one-third of all states experienced more rail-related fatalities in 1998 than six years earlier.

During the first eight months of 1997, one of the nation's major rail carriers, Union Pacific, had six serious train collisions resulting in five crew fatalities.

In addition, the transportation of hazardous materials, a growing component of the railroads' business, presents another set of problems.

Every two weeks, a train carrying hazardous materials derails, spills some of its load and forces an evacuation, the study says.

Railroads frequently transport dangerous cargo, ranging from poisons to pesticides, through densely populated urban areas.

Steve Moss, author of the report, said local officials are sometimes unaware of what trains are transporting through their towns and cities.

"There's a remarkable amount of ignorance about exactly what's being carried, and a lot of it is being carried," Moss said.

Although rail traffic has increased by 40 percent since 1990, the study cites as a serious problem cutbacks in the staffs that operate, maintain and inspect railroads.

Trains are being forced to run on fewer miles of tracks, causing more congestion and wear on the railways.

Railroads also rely heavily on outdated technology, from as far back as the 1930s, said the study, which added that currently available technology could forestall a large number of rail accidents.

Dettmann says states determine where railroad crossing lights and gates should be placed

For example, safety mechanisms such as proximity warning devices could automatically warn and stop trains in impending collisions.

Another control system would force brakes to be applied if a train exceeded a certain speed.

The report claims that railroads have failed to make the investments to upgrade their systems.

"Right now, it's the public's responsibility to protect ourselves from their trains," said Vicky Moore.

Her son, Ryan, was killed in 1995 when a car in which he was riding was hit by train at a railroad crossing in Ohio.

The Railwatch report was authored by the San Francisco consulting firm M.Cubed. It primarily focused on the four largest rail companies: Burlington Northern & Santa Fe, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific.

In response, the Association of American Railroads, an industry group, told CNN it's not up to railroads to decide which crossings get lights or gates.

"The states are responsible for that," said the association's Chuck Dettmann. "Only the states know how much vehicular usage of those crossings there are."

Edwards says some motorists ignore gates at rail crossings

In addition, says the federal government, half of all train accidents occur where gates are already in place.

"Unfortunately, people go around those," says Marmie Edwards of Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make highway rail crossings safer.

"They disobey those just like they disobey stop signs and so to say that we're going to solve all our safety problems by equipment in a particular location unfortunately is not the case."

As the railroad industry and its critics debated the safety issue, Marcus Boyle's mother knew only that Krystal Marie Donlon lost her young life while saving someone else's.

"She'll always be a hero in my eyes," Carol Boyle said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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