Groups
Fight To Put Safety On Track
Two organizations
share one mission, to install warning systems at all of
Ohio's railroad crossings
Akron Beacon Journal
July 13, 1999
by: Joy Heselton
COLUMBUS: The flashing
lights and gates at a railroad crossing might frustrate folks
who don't want to wait for the train. But a Lawrence Township
woman wishes they had been in place at the crossing where
her son died.
Ryan, the youngest
son of Vicky and Dennis Moore, was one of three teens killed
when a train struck their car in 1995 at a crossing on the
Wayne-Stark county line. Three other teens, including the
Moores' older son, were also injured in the accident.
The state has since
installed lights and gates at the crossing, but they came
eight months late for the Moores.
That is why the
Moores established the Angels on Track Foundation with aims
to equip all of Ohio's rail crossings with warning signal
devices. About half of the state's crossings are marked only
with crossbucks and no warning signals.
Her son's untimely
death is also the reason Vicky Moore will join Sherry Fox,
executive director of the Texas-based organization RailWatch,
in speaking tomorrow to a task force in Delaware County about
rail safety.
In a state that
has historically been in the top 10 nationally for train-related
accidents and fatalities, rail safety is a growing concern.
And groups like RailWatch and the Angels on Track Foundation,
formed in part by train-crash victims and their families,
want government and rail companies to do more to prevent
train-car collisions, derailments, and train-related hazardous
waste spills.
A February report
by RailWatch states there is a railroad accident every 90
minutes and a derailment from a train carrying hazardous
waste every two weeks.
"Those are
real concerns nationwide and they're of particular concern
in Ohio because of the rail traffic that you have there,
number of railraod tracks around the state and unprotected
crossings," Fox said in an interview yesterday. "We
really think that we should accelerate the pace by which
those crossings receive lights and gates."
Getting warning
signals in place faster is just what Vicky Moore and her
Angels on Track Foundation have set out to do. By creating
task forces in counties, Moore hopes to transfer part of
the responsibility for signal installation from the state
to the local level.
The Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio identifies and prioritizes those rail
crossings that need safety upgrades. In the past year and
a half, the commission designated almost 200 crossings for
upgrades. This number is normally 50 to 60 per year, said
Dick Kimmins, spokesman for the commission.
Once the commission
designates a rail crossing for an upgrade, the rail company
has one year to install the warning signals. The signals,
which cost around $150,000 per crossing, are installed by
the rail companies,who are then reimbursed by the commission.
The signals are primarily paid for with state and federal
funds, Kimmins said, but sometimes the rail company could
contribute up to 10 percent of the cost.
Moore believes the
process is low, leaving too many crossings unprotected in
Ohio.
Kimmins said the
commission's safety upgrades over the past 10 years have
reduced the number of train-related accidents and fatalities
in Ohio by 65-70 percent. In 1998, the number of train-car
accidents in Ohio was 136, with 13 fatalities, compared to
418 accidents with 62 fatalities in 1989.
Warning devices
do not always prevent accidents, Kimmins said, noting that
over 50 percent of accidents in Ohio occur at crossings with
lights and gates.
Moore and Fox also
believe rail companies hould have to pay to install the warning
devices. Under the current system, they are only required
to maintain the crossings, but can choose whether to install
devices.
"I think it
should be the other way around. The railroads should be responsible
for the majority of the costs, and we should have a voluntary
contribution. They're the ones who have the tracks, own the
trains, they're the ones making the money, their tracks go
through our communities. Why should we be responsible for
paying for the equipment to protect us from their trains?" Moore
said.
CSX Transportation
and Norfolk-Southern rail companies, two of the largest in
Ohio, think differently. They believe they have a fair deal,
with the government paying for the bulk of installation cost
and the rail companies covering the maintenance costs.
CSX pays up to $2,000
a year per crossing for maintenance, said Gary Wollenhaupt,
the company's director of corporate communications.
And Rudy Husband,
spokesman for Norfolk-Southern, said although rail safety
is a "No. 1 priority for the company", drivers
also need to be responsible for their own safety.
"Every incident
involving a train and a car could be avoided if the driver
of that car exercised the appropriate level of caution," Husband
said.
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