Railroad safety improvements being tried around country

ALSO: Lifesaving work of Angels on Track

March 19, 1999
Web posted at: 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT)

In this story: New barriers Education and enforcement RELATED STORIES, SITES

From CNN Correspondent Carl Rochelle

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After this week's deadly truck-train collision in Bourbonnais, Illinois, concerns are being raised about the safety of railroad crossings across the United States.

Every 100 minutes, a train engineer somewhere in the United States sights a potential for disaster.

"If you are an engineer, and you see someone on the track in a vehicle or walking -- you blow the horn and you throw the train into emergency -- but there is nothing you can do but watch in horror," Jolene Molitoris, a federal railway administrator, said. "And you might be the first person to go back and try to help some of the people."

The agency said 422 people died in rail crossing accidents in 1998. That was down 32 percent from the previous year. Officials credit the drop to a safety campaign that includes nationwide testing of innovative safety systems.

New barriers

One is a cable barrier being used along rail lines in Wisconsin. The cable drops into place as the train approaches and not only blocks access to the tracks but also stops vehicles that try to barrel through it.

Mystic, Connecticut, is trying a combination of quad gates. Two pairs of gates block both sides of the track. If a vehicle is on the track, sensors warn the train, which automatically applies the brakes.

Railroad workers identify the main problem as drivers who routinely snake around the gates. Train engineer Billy Parker, who survived a collision with a tanker truck, said those gate runners don't have a chance.

"A freight train with 100 cars traveling 50 mph can take a mile and a half to stop in an emergency situation," Parker explained. "That is 20 football fields long."

Along a heavily traveled rail corridor in North Carolina, they are trying a simple solution: curbs and medians that prevent vehicles from pulling around barrier gates.

Education and enforcement

But train officials said the best safety measures may be the simplest.

"You have got to educate people, and you need to enforce existing laws, so that people do not intrude onto grade crossings and that people are more careful as they approach grade crossings," Cliff Black of Amtrak said.

To accomplish that goal, Los Angeles has installed not only barrier gates and signs, but also cameras that photograph the car and the driver's face.

The high-tech solutions are expensive. Systems like the quad gate and sensor method in Connecticut cost more than a million dollars.

But rail industry officials say safety gates alone, no matter how sophisticated, will not stop the accidents unless drivers stop trying to beat the train.

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