County Railroad
Crossing Deemed Dangerous
Wilmington News Journal
By: JOHN CROPPER, Staff Writer
A Clinton County railroad crossing has
been called “a
dire safety hazard” and a “very dangerous intersection” by
current and former railroad safety advocates, as well as by
one Ohio foundation which works to make the nation’s
railways safer.
The crossing, on Stone Road near State
Route 22, has been reported nine times to the Angels on Track
Foundation as a “dangerous
crossing” because of overgrown vegetation and a sharp
angle which make spotting oncoming trains difficult, said Vicky
Moore, founder of Angels on Track.
“There are no gates on this crossing, only a sign which
acts as a yield sign,” Moore said. “But how can
you yield to something you can’t even see?”
Ohio law says the owner of the railroad,
Indiana and Ohio Railway (IAOR), is responsible for maintaining
the visibility of the intersection “for a distance of 600 feet from
the roadway.” Numerous calls to RailAmerica, the parent
company which owns the Indiana and Ohio line, were not returned
on Wednesday.
Moore said the IAOR trimmed the overgrown Stone Road vegetation
once in 2008 but it has since grown back.
The Clinton County Engineer’s
office said they attempt to contact railway owners whenever
a complaint is filed about a crossing, but rarely is action
taken.
“I’m not saying they never respond, but they are
very hard to get a hold of,” said County Engineer Jeff
Linkous.
Of the 68 railroad crossings in Clinton
County, 14 have been reported to Moore’s organization,
which is based in Salineville. Only one other crossing, on
Starbuck Road, has been reported multiple times. Twelve have
been reported once.
Twenty-one traffic accidents have been recorded at Clinton
County crossings since 1990, according to the Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio, which regulates railroad safety. In that
time, only one accident occurred at the Stone Road crossing.
“Basically what we want to do is document the hazards,
so if something happens, the people who are responsible for
the railroad can be held accountable,” Moore said.
To be sure, Moore has a reason to care about railroad safety.
Her son Ryan and two of his friends
were killed in 1995 when a car he was riding in was struck
by an oncoming train. Moore’s
other son, Jason, was driving the car, and he was “inching
forward onto the track to get a better view” when a train
struck the back of the car, she said. All three backseat passengers
were killed.
“There were no gates on that crossing, either,” Moore
said. “Had there been a gate, my son would still be here
today.”
When someone submits a Dangerous Crossing
Report on Moore’s
website, angelsontrack.org, a copy of the report is instantly
sent to the two state agencies who regulate railroad crossing
safety, the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) and PUCO.
Cathy Stout, a PUCO safety manager,
said there are many criteria that her agency and ORDC use
to determine if a crossing requires a gate, flashing lights
or just a “crossbuck” sign
similar to the Stone Road crossing.
“The number of trains in a day, the amount of traffic,
the number of accidents at the site, among other things, are
all factors in deciding [which crossings get gates],” Stout
said.
Another factor is the number of school buses which cross the
tracks each day, she said. The Federal Railroad Administration
lists the number of daily bus routes which cross Stone Road
as zero. But Jo Vance, supervisor of transportation for Wilmington
City Schools, said one bus crosses the tracks twice every day.
A transportation representative from East Clinton local school
district said her buses normally cross the tracks too, but
recently there have been no students living on Stone Road who
use the bus service.
Bruce Beam was one of the Clinton County
residents who filed a Dangerous Crossing Report for the intersection.
A retired locomotive engineer of seventeen years, Beam said
he cares “greatly
about railroad safety, and so do railroad companies.”
“That crossing is a dire safety hazard,” he said. “People
have to use extreme caution when crossing it.”
Beam was driving to work along Stone
Road early one morning in 2009. Because it was dark, Beam
said he almost didn’t
notice that a train had stopped on the tracks until he came
close to wrecking into it.
“You ever step on a pop can? That’s exactly the
sound it makes when a train hits a car,” he said.
“You don’t have much of a chance if you get hit.
A few of us in this state are trying to make sure that no one
is killed or maimed at these crossings,” he said.
The railroad crossing on Stone Road
where concerned
citizens say the vegetation along the rail’s corridor is
too thick,
making it a hazard to drivers. Nine
“Dangerous Crossing
Reports” have been filed for the
intersection. (News
Journal Photo/John Cropper)
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