Austin, Texas: Capital MetroRail begins public services

Capital MetroRail (CMR) opens for business, source CMR

Capital MetroRail has begun public services in Austin, Texas and once again shown that it is at the forefront of taking transit safety messages, including those relating to the highway rail interface into the community.

Much was done during the construction and test running phases of the project to raise awareness of how motorists and other road users should interact with the Capital MetroRail transit system. Now that public operation has begun, the key safety messages are being reiterated across the city.

When public service began on March 22nd, 2010 Capital MetroRail’s 32-mile-long Red Line opened with free travel available in the build up to a dedication ceremony on March 27th, 2010 which celebrated the start of passenger rail service over existing railway infrastructure with an emphasis on safety. Students who had been involved in Capital Metro¿s rail safety education efforts took a MetroRail “Safety Train” demonstration ride to the dedication at Downtown Station. The dedication ceremony recognised student work and activities.

Capital MetroRail’s safety improvements include:

Illinois: Operation Lifesaver staying on track

Operation Lifesaver Illinois have published the latest edition of their excellent “Staying on Track” newsletter. A matters of more general interest covered in this newsletter is a new public service announcement entitled “A knock on the door”.

The film, which runs for 3 minutes and 15 seconds, was made in Illinois in late 2009 in Highland Park. The story unfolds as two police officers are assigned the unpleasant task of having to make notification to the parents of a child that has been killed in a train -v- vehicle collision. The anxiety and uneasiness of this call is felt throughout, and brings out that police officers are real people too, with feelings.

The film features Officer Bill Lyons and Lieutenant Ray Fisher of the Villa Park Police Department engaging in real police activities made the story believable because they have experienced making notifications for real. Bill Lyons was quoted as saying, “it’s the most heart wrenching part of the job as a police officer.”

The film is designed for the young adult or new driver audience and is a departure from the traditional safety film in that, we aren’t instructing the viewers on what to do and what not to do. As the newsletter says “It’s more of a cerebral approach, dealing with the consequences of their actions. After seeing the film, people will think about how this scenario would affect their loved ones and the suffering they would endure. If it makes them think about it the next time or every time they come up to the tracks then we’ve accomplished our goal.

If you would like a copy of the public service announcement, contact Chip Pew at cpew@icc.illinois.gov

Los Angeles: Build a station to keep a level crossing

Slightly bizarre seems to be the reaction to the amendment proposed to environmental impact documentation by California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to the treatment of the intersection between the planned Expo Line and Farmdale Avenue (LXinfo February 2010).

Previously, CPUC has rejected the Expo Line Construction Authority proposal for a level crossing and required a pedestrian over-bridge. Now, CPUC has said that if there was a station adjacent to the Farmdale Avenue intersection, then a level crossing could be retained.

The CPUC rationale for this is that the trains would be running at slower speed as they arrived at and departed from the station. Should the Expo Line open before the new station is constructed an interim stop and proceed arrangement is proposed meaning that trains would come to a stand and then cross Farmdale Avenue at low speed.

Provo, Utah: Tangible progress with level crossing improvements

UTA’s FrontRunner project to introduce transit services linking Provo with Salt Lake City is making tangible progress towards delivering the enhanced infrastructure needed for this passenger rail operation.

Of note is the significant progress has been made along Union Pacific’s right of way with grade crossing improvements completed at the 900 West, 700 West, 500 West and Freedom Boulevard road-rail intersections in Provo.

Springfield, Illinois: ICC issues 5-Year safety improvement programme

The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has approved the 2011-2015 Crossing Safety Improvement Program’s 5-Year Plan. The5-Year Plan includes nearly US$200m in assistance from the Grade Crossing Protection Fund (GCPF) for safety improvements at more than 2,200 level crossings across the state.

The scope of the projects included in the Plan range from automatic flashing light and signal upgrades, which can cost nearly US$00.2m, to multi-million dollar grade separation projects.

For fiscal year 2011 alone, the Plan includes US$39.1 million in assistance from the GCPF for five bridge projects and 125 new level crossing projects. For fiscal years 2012-2015, the Plan includes nearly $157.4 million in GCPF assistance for 20 grade separation projects and 1,788 new level crossing projects.

Low cost improvements, such as the installation of new reflective “crossbuck” warning signs and YIELD signs at crossings that do not require automatic warning devices and the modification of existing remote monitoring devices at crossings equipped with active warning devices are also included.

The annually updated Five-Year Plan outlines the statutory obligation and goals for improving public safety at level crossings across the state.  With its focus squarely on the “Three E’s” (Education, Enforcement and Engineering), the ICC orders safety improvements at public level crossings with the cost of such improvements paid for using funds from the state’s GCPF, railways and local governments.

Olympia, Washington: Safe routes to school

Washington State Department of Transportation (WaDOT) has released the first phase report of their “Safe Routes to School (SRTS) State-wide Mobility Assessment Study.

This WaDOT report presents the results of phase one of a two phase study designed to support state-level management of the Federal Highway Administration’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programme. The study aims to:

Phase one of the study found that rates of walking and biking to school varied considerably. Therefore, benchmarks should come from individual schools. The best tool for establishing these benchmarks was found to be the National Center for Safe Routes to School Student Travel Tally.

One of the 15 SRTS completed with funding provided in 2006 has a level crossing component. The Blue Ridge Elementary school SRTS project in Walla Walla received a grant of US$0.118m. This money was used to fund construction of a sidewalk (pavement), pedestrian ramps, and an ADA -accessible level crossing. The education curriculum included a pedestrian safety clinic, establishment of safety sites, and printing and distribution of educational materials. These improvements generated a 34% increase in those walking of biking to school.

The wider benefits of this SRTS project realised at community level include improved neighbourhood aesthetics, improved pedestrian access to the Veteran’s Administration hospital, and improved access for all residents. School faculty, police, nearby business owners, and residents complimented the project and felt that it had made a positive impact on the community.

To view the full report, please go to: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/743.1.pdf

Washington, DC: Countermeasures that work

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a report “Countermeasures That Work: A Highway Safety Countermeasure Guide for State Highway Safety Offices, Fifth Edition, 2010”

The guide explores major highway safety strategies and countermeasures that are relevant to State Highway Safety Offices; summarises their use, effectiveness, costs, and implementation time; and provides references for those wishing to explore matters in greater detail, The guide highlights measures that have directly transferable lessons for those working in the field of level crossing safety.

The nine areas covered in the report are:

To read the full report, please go to:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Traffic
%20Injury%20Control/Articles/Associated%20Files/
Countermeasures_HS811258.pdf

Countermeasures that work

Bassett, California: Fatal collision with rail maintenance vehicle

A rail maintenance worker was killed when the light truck in which he was travelling was struck by a passenger train on a level crossing in Bassett, in California’s San Gabriel valley. The accident which occurred on the shared use Metrolink – Union Pacific rights of way during the morning of March 20th, 2010 also left three train passengers with minor injuries.

The Union Pacific employee who died on the Temple Avenue level crossing was apparently driving a road-rail vehicle and it is not known whether at the time of the collision whether the road-rail vehicle was crossing the railway or in use with rail wheels lowered.

North Dakota’s Supreme Court has dismissed a businesses claim for reinstatement of a level crossing in Grand Forks over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway’s (BNSF) right of way. In a filing on March 19th, 2010 the court found that Home of Economy had failed to prove the existence of a public road by prescription and therefore dismissed the requested damages and injunction. Thus BNSF was not in error in closing the private level crossing in 2003.

To read more go to: http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?
shortname=inndco20100319840

(March 22nd, 2010)

Cleveland, Ohio: US$1.8m federal stimulus for grade crossing roadway improvements

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is using US1.8m of federal stimulus funds to effect level crossing roadway improvements in Shaker Heights at Farnsleigh Road and Van Aken Boulevard and then at Van Aken Boulevard and Lynnfield Road, both on the transit system’s Blue Line. Then, wok will switch to Green Line level crossings at Coventry Road and Shaker Boulevard, followed by the crossings at Coventry Road and Shaker Boulevard and at Shaker Boulevard and Attleboro Road.

Work at each location includes a new pre-cast concrete roadway, highway approaches in asphalt as well as new rail through the crossings. Construction of the new level crossings will take up to two weeks and involve highway diversions.

(March 20th, 2010)

Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has announced that the level crossing on Wesner Road in Maidencreek Township, near Reading, is to be upgraded from passive status and equipped with lights and barriers. The upgrade which is to be federally funded via PennDOT will be completed later in 2010. When this upgrade is complete there will be 35 passive crossings and 69 with either lights or lights and barriers in Berkshire County.

(March 19th, 2010)

A joint Union Pacific (UP) Police and Watertown Police Department team is targeting motorists who run red lights at the city’s active level crossings. The modus operandi is an officer on the train to identify offences who then radios police in marked and unmarked cruisers deployed near the level crossings in question to stop and ticket offenders. The opening hours of the exercise on March 19th, 2010 saw three motorists ticketed for failing to stop as required with a further four motorists given warnings.

By way of a reminder of correct behaviours at level crossings, the offending motorists can expect a US$255 citation for running the red and US$387 for weaving around lowered barriers. In addition both offences carry six drivers’ licence penalty points. Plans are for the exercise to be repeated perhaps quarterly.

Norfolk Southern’s (NS) suggestion to the local authority in Pell City, Alabama, that level crossing consolidation is justified has led to a number of residents raising concerns even though an alternative crossing is available but a block away.

NS has proposed closure of the 20th Street South level crossing, pointing out that there is a crossing on 19th Street and that they are working to consolidate crossings in line with the Federal Railroad Administration’s aspiration that a quarter of public level crossings are eliminated through consolidation.

To sweeten the deal for the city fathers, NS has offered to pay the City US$25,000 and erect safety barriers at the site of the crossing once eliminated with a further sum possibly available from Alabama’s Department of Transportation. The next step is for the City to gauge community reactions through a public meeting and respond to Norfolk Southern and the State Department of Transportation.

Monte Grande, Argentina: Grade separation a political football

The project to eliminate two level crossings in Monte Grande, Buenos Aires at a cost of ARS100m announced two years ago is the victim of local politics. Some interests oppose the construction of two rail-over-road bridges as replacements because of their impact on the local environment whereas others argue that all necessary consultation was properly conducted and that therefore the project should be delivered as originally agreed. Opponents of the bridges argue that they will destroy the central plaza, generate localised flooding and do nothing to address traffic congestion in the centre of Monte Grande. Similar concerns are advanced by some residents affected by the project.

The level crossings concerned are located at each end of the railway station and are situated on calles Rodriguez and Dorrego which funnel traffic to the town centre. Opponents of the plans argue that the priority should be to divert upwards of 30,000 motor vehicles a day from the town centre rather than build bridges that merely reinforce current traffic management practices. Monsy should be spent on highway improvements and diversion of through traffic away from the centre of Monte Grande.

Time will tell whether the lure of external funding sourced from a World Bank programme of infrastructure works or whether the opposing view will prevail.

(March 18th, 2010)

Industry, California: UP Police and other agencies out in force

Union Pacific (UP) police officers and those from local law enforcement agencies have been working together to address level crossing abuse in Industry California. The operation ran for two days from March 17th, 2010. The focus of the operation was on the seven mile stretch where Valley Boulevard runs parallel to UP metals where level crossing abuse and line of route trespass was confronted. To increase the opportunities to unearth abuse, UP ran a special train up and down the target stretch.

The operation was productive with 76 tickets handed out at level crossings, two cars being used by unlicensed drivers impounded and one line of route trespasser ticketed. Over and above this a man was arrested against and outstanding warrant. And, this was just the haul on the first day.

(March 18th, 2010)

A teenager died just after midnight at a level crossing on Indiana Highway 149 in Portage, Indiana, on March 17th, 2010. Porter County Sheriff sources have said that the motorist behaved unusually having first driven over the crossing in a northerly direction before u-turning and driving back across the level crossing. He then executed a further u-turn and drove onto the level crossing where he stopped his car. With this in mind, that the death was intentional cannot be ruled out of the continuing investigation.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Supreme Court finds against UP

Louisiana’s Supreme Court has overturned judgements of lower courts which had found in favour of Union Pacific’s (UP) rejection of an Exxon-Mobil Pipeline Company request to construct a new level crossing to access a pipeline for maintenance purposes.

The March 16th, 2010 Supreme Court judgment of March 16th, 2010 supports the Exxon Mobil assertion that as a common carrier pipeline operator and given the mandated maintenance regime they have to follow, Exxon Mobil can expropriate a route across the UP tracks in Plaquemine, Louisiana.

The UP stance was that they would only agree to a new level crossing if there was a corresponding closure of a level crossing elsewhere. Before litigation began, ExxonMobil offered inter alia to limit its access to monthly inspections and the mechanical inspection every 5 years, to place a locked gate at the crossing, and to provide sufficient notice to Union Pacific whenever a crossing is to be made. This offer was turned down by UP and at that point Exxon Mobil petitioned for expropriation as a common carrier pipeline operator.

Ottawa, Canada: Level crossing safety on TSB watch list

The Transportation Safety Board TSB), Canada’s independent accident investigation body, has issued an updated watch list setting out nine priority areas for action. One of these areas is in respect of level crossing safety where TSB says that the problem is that the risk of passenger trains colliding with road vehicles is too high in busy rail corridors.

TSB says that the solution Transport Canada and the railways must conduct safety assessments to identify high-risk crossings along busy passenger train routes and make the necessary safety improvements.

By way of background there have been 380 collision between passenger trains and road vehicles over the past 15 years, an average of approximately one every two weeks. In these collisions there have been 106 fatalities.

Wilmerding, Pennsylvania: Wabtec acquires Xorail for US$40m

Wabtec Corporation has acquired Xorail LLC, a leading provider of signal engineering and design services, for US$40m in cash. The company is based in Jacksonville, Florida, and has annual sales of about US$40m.

Xorail provides a variety of engineering, design and construction services, mainly for railway signalling systems. These services include level crossing warning systems, design solutions for wayside signalling, positive train control systems, site surveys, systems integration, and field construction and installation of wayside equipment. Xorail's customers include Class I railroads and passenger transit authorities in North America. The company was founded in 1990 as Southwest Signal Engineering Company, and now has ten satellite offices throughout North America with about 275 employees. Kash Krishnarao, president of Xorail, will remain with the company.

"Xorail's engineering and wayside capabilities are a good fit with our existing railway electronics business," said Albert J. Neupaver, Wabtec's President and Chief Executive Officer. "In addition, these capabilities position Wabtec for a larger role as the rail industry implements positive train control technology over the next several years."

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has announced that it is to hold a webinar which will consider Identifying Railroad–Highway Agency Institutional Mitigation Strategies. The webinar will take place between 14.00 and 15.30 (EST) on May 6th, 2010.

As highways agencies conduct projects that cross or abut railways, public highway departments and rail infrastructure owners work together to conduct reviews on safety, engineering, and operating effects that the highway project will have on the railway. Although, most reviews and agreements proceed smoothly, highway agencies and rail infrastructure owners expressed interest in creating a more efficient process to develop these agreements.

TRB’s Second Strategic Highway Research Program was tasked with developing strategies to improve the project-agreement process between rail infrastructure manages and highways agencies. This webinar will present the findings of that project. Panellists will discuss successful partnering processes, model project-management processes, and model agreements. This webinar will be of interest to any rail and highway official interested in expediting the development of agreements for highway projects that interact with railway rights of way.

Presenters include:

The webinar will be moderated by Monica Starnes from TRB

Questions may be posed any time during the webinar, and are answered at the end of the session.  

Registration:  Participants must register no later than 24 hours in advance of the Webinar. There is no fee for Chairs of TRB Standing Committees, Sections, or Groups.  There is also no fee for employees of TRB Sponsors. Others including TRB committee members must pay US$99.

Washington, DC: April sees next steps in response to Railroad Safety Improvement Act 2008

An expanded and upgraded Grade Crossing Inventory and other steps to improve level crossing safety were key requirement of the Railroad Safety Improvement Act 2008 (RSIA) and April 16th, 2010 is the next deadline date set out in the act.

The latest deadline brings with it a requirement that the Federal Railroad Administration will propose model legislation for improving sight distance at level crossings and importantly require rail infrastructure managers to provide and maintain toll-free telephone lines for reporting level crossing problems. Additionally, railway companies must report sold crossings to FRA.

Already by October 16th, 2009 the (FRA) was mandated to require the ten states with the highest level crossing accident rates to develop action plans (LXinfo February 2010). By the same date railway infrastructure managers were required to submit level crossing inventories along with level crossing warning device inventories. In parallel the FRA was to evaluate and review state and local laws pertaining to railway and level crossing trespass.

Strictly the requirements shown against FRA are mandated upon the US Department of Transportation (USDoT). However, FRA is the USDoT agency which is working on these issues.

St Martin, Argentina: Surface conditions anger road users

The Estación Chilavert level crossing in San Martín is attracting a lot of adverse criticism from road users appalled at the condition of the roadway. The roadway and the highway approaches to the level crossing are uneven with large potholes which it is being said could easily damage the suspension and otherwise cause accidents. The need to circumvent the potholes has the effect of diverting motorist attention from the level crossing warnings.

Motorists argue that the level crossing should be closed to permit reconstruction of the roadway with materials appropriate to the levels of traffic now experienced daily. Those advocating the repair of the roadway further argue that a proprietary level crossing roadway system should be used in place of the current practice of filling piecemeal with locally sourced asphalt.

Los Angeles, California: Lawsuit alleges rules not followed

A local lobbying group has launched a lawsuit against the authority tasked with building the second phase of the Expo Line linking Culver City and Santa Monica. The lawsuit alleges that the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority has not complied with California’s environmental impact rules. The allegation centre on the impact level crossings on the new alignment will have on the line’s neighbours.

It is hard to see this as the latest manifestation of not in my back yard politics. The Expo Line authority is confident that they have complied with legislation and accordingly will vigorously defend their position. 

Riverside, California: Columbia Avenue grade separation inaugurated

The City of Riverside, California, is bedevilled with level crossing having 26 of them across the city. These level crossings are recognised by city fathers as a barrier to free movement around the city. The city’s strategic vision is to grade separate the busiest road-rail intersections. In this context the city formally opened the new Columbia Avenue road-over-rail bridge on March 11th, 2010.

The new Columbia Avenue bridge, which has cost US$30m and has been completed in just 15 months, spans Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) tracks. The level crossing that has been eliminated had a road traffic volume of more than 16,000 and more than 100 trains on the BNSF right of way.

Columbia Avenue is the second level crossing project completed by the City in less than a year, with the Jurupa Avenue level crossing eliminated in June 2009. The City of Riverside plans more grade separations and has already begun construction of the project to grade separate and thus eliminate the level crossing on Magnolia Avenue.

(March 12th, 2010)