A freight train collided with a truck which had run the red stop lights at a level crossing on US Highway 84 near Grand Bayou in Red River Parish. The consequence of the collision on the Union Pacific right-of-way was four locomotives and 15 freight cars were derailed. In addition the leading locomotive’s fuel tanks ruptured and caught fire. Three railway employees and the truck driver were taken to hospital as a result of the collision which occurred at 14.30 on July 27th, 2011.

Now, July 28th, 2011, Louisiana State Police have confirmed that the truck driver has been ticketed for failing to stop as required when the crossing lights were illuminated.

(July 28th, 2011)

Derailment in Red River Parish, source Louisiana State Police

A grade separation project in Hamilton Ohio, which is presently subject to public consultation may stimulate economic activity as well as addressing safety and congestion concerns. The proposed grade separation is of the skewed level crossing on Central Avenue adjacent to the intersection of Central and Pleasant avenues.

Presently, public consultation is considering six options which have been developed in outline. The core option is to construct an extension of Grand Boulevard in a westerly direction to cross the CSX Transportation right-of-way before linking with US Highway 27. Property acquisition will be needed for these and related work to reroute Dixie Highway and East Avenue.

The project is necessarily a long-term one as there is at present no funding in place to allow construction to proceed.

(July 27th, 2011)

In Idaho, Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is investing USD $23.1 million on its rights-of-way linking Weiser and Mountain Home and from Pocatello to Idaho Falls. The 180-mile project includes removing and installing new rail and more than 206,000 railroad ties along this critical railroad corridor through Idaho. Crews will spread 106,000 tons of rock ballast to ensure a stable roadbed. In addition level crossing roadways will be renewed as the work progresses.

In Minnesota, UP’s USD 11 million project to upgrade a 66-mile-long section of its route linking Minneapolis and Ottawa includes the renewal of roadways over 64 level crossings.

In Kansas, UP is investing USD 7.0 million renewing 36 miles of track between Hays and Russell and another 11 miles of track between Russell to Ellsworth. In addition, UP is renewing the roadway at 63 crossings in both Ellis and Russell counties.
In Colorado, UP is investing more than USD 6 million on the 40 mile corridor from Bond to Dotsero. The work includes renewing the roadway surfaces at 20 level crossings.

In 2011, UP plans to spend approximately USD 3.3 billion on capital investments to support America's current and future freight transportation needs and enhance the safety and efficiency of the company's 32,000-mile network. Improvement projects like these are examples of UP continuing to support its customers' business through strategic investments

(July 27th, 2011)

 

The reintroduction of freight rail services through Sonoma County brings with it an education task as motorists have grown used to the fact that there have been no trains for many years.
The Northwestern Pacific Railroad last operated freight trains in 2001, when traffic was embargoed by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) because of storm damage to the infrastructure.

In May 2011, after the North Coast Railroad Authority invested USD 68 million to refurbish the 62 miles of track between Windsor and Napa County, the FRA lifted its embargo, as a precursor to freight operations resuming between Napa and Windsor.

There are 56 level crossings along the 62 mile line, with most of them equipped with automatic half-barriers. However, there are some, mostly private passive crossings.

Now with strong support from California Operation Lifesaver, action is being taken to raise awareness that trains are operating again and therefore it is imperative that level crossings controls are respected be they active or passive.

(July 26th, 2011)

Candidates running for election as the mayor of Edmonds are united in questioning the case for a new maritime terminal for bulk commodities at Cherry point in Whatcom County.
One of the concerns is that coal arriving from Montana and Wyoming will generate additional rail traffic through Edmonds. In particular, there is a concern that both level crossings giving access to the waterfront on Dayton and Main streets will be closed to road traffic more frequently and impact on access to and egress from the State Ferry terminal.

Presently, the rail line through Edmonds is traversed by approximately 60 trains each day. On average, each train closes the level crossings to road traffic for six minutes meaning that the crossings are closed for around six hours per day. Estimates suggest that the number of trains will increase by ten per day meaning that the crossings would be closed to road traffic for an additional hour per day. Mayoral candidates that this additional impact is unacceptable and that mitigating measures need to be taken.

The mayoral candidates are of the view that a state led environmental impact assessment is the next step. In at least one case, there is a preconceived view that the impact assessment will conclude that there is no case for the additional deep water bulk terminal

(July 26th, 2011)

The driver of an armoured truck failing to hear a train’s horn has been identified as a causal factor of a collision with a train on a level crossing in the Boca district of Buenos Aires. Specifically, the truck’s armoured glass windows are said to be impenetrable by the noise of a train horn.

The collision occurred at approximately 09.30 on July 26th, 2011 on the open level crossing at the intersection of the railway with calles Suárez and Juan de Dios Filiberto. No one was injured in this accident.

(July 26th, 2011)

Across Argentina, railway staff members are gradually repainting the crossbucks at level crossings from black and yellow to red and white.

(July 23rd, 2011)

Red and white replaces black and yellow

Brazilian rail system operator América Latina logística (ALL) has launched a campaign to prevent level crossing accidents with the key message being “stop, look and listen”

The campaign launched on July 21st, 2011 with events in 21 municipalities and radio coverage during morning drive-time programming. The crossing safety blitz was organised in conjunction with the traffic police in each of the 21 municipalities.

(July 21st, 2011)

October 1st, 2011 will mark the reopening of the railway serving the Port of Coos Bay although engineering trains will operate in August and September. Prior to the train service starting action is in hand to ensure that the public understand that the once moribund railway from Eugene, through Reedsport, to Coquille is coming alive with level crossings being refurbished.

Accordingly, Oregon Operation Lifesaver is working with the Port of Coos Bay to deliver presentations across the affected communities.

(July 21st, 2011)

An ambulance was hit by a train on the Avenida Boyaca level crossing in Flores. The driver of the ambulance was injured in the collision which occurred on July 21st, 2011. Unfortunately, the ambulance was too damaged to convey its driver to hospital.

(July 21st, 2011)

A third fatal large commercial truck – train collision on railways in the United States in less than four weeks occurred at 09.50 on July 18th, 2011 on the SW 29th passive level crossing near Union City, Canadian County.

The accident occurred when the truck driver failed to stop at the passive crossing and was hit by a northbound Union Pacific Railroad (UP) freight train. Following the collision, fire engulfed the truck, the driver of which was killed. Police have reported that the truck driver was from Tennessee and was operating in unfamiliar territory. The train crew was not injured but have been offered counselling by UP.

One report says that the crossing is not protected by stop signs and that the limit of protection is a cross-buck.

(July 19th, 2011)

Routine use of train horns on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad’s (BNSF) right-of-way through Jamestown will be history later this year if BNSF and the Federal Railroad Administration sign off the scheme as expected once the city completes the enabling works around the end of September 2011. From this point in time BNSF and FRA each have 60 days to approve or reject the works because they do not adequately control risk.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation will provide grants up to USD 0.075 million per crossing to a maximum of USD 0.225 million per scheme. The Jamestown scheme has a cost of approximately USD 0.3 million.

(July 15th, 2011)

Montana’s Department of Transportation has sought public comment on proposals to upgrade two level crossings of the Montana Rail Link right-of-way.

One project is to install lights and barriers, and upgrade the roadway of a level crossing northwest of Missoula, Missoula County. The costs of the active controls and new roadway will be met by the Department of Transportation

The second project is also to install lights and barriers, and upgrade the roadway of a level crossing. The crossing in question is located southwest of Ravalli, Lake County.

(July 14th, 2011)

An Amtrak video depicting the importance of railroad safety has been recognized by two independent awards programs for creative excellence. The film, Cheating Death, received two Silver Communicator Awards from The International Academy of Visual Arts and two Bronze Telly Awards in the categories of Public Safety and Video Editing.

The film, designed to warn teen drivers of the dangers and consequences of failing to obey level crossing signals was developed in response to several grade-crossing deaths of teenagers in Lakeland, Florida. It is produced in a style that captures the attention of a younger audience by incorporating fast paced editing techniques, music, re-enactments, actual news footage and natural sound to deliver the key messaging.  The film includes interviews with police, medical professionals and family members of teenagers who died as a result of not obeying crossing signals. At 12 minutes in length, the film is a grim reminder of the importance of behaving safely. A condensed 6 minute version of the video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyAEGxJ3f4w

Cheating Death will be used as a training tool both internally for Amtrak personnel and externally for state driver’s education associations, school groups, civic organizations and transit agencies. In addition, more than 1,100 copies of the film have been distributed to Operation Lifesaver, a national organization dedicated to preventing railway related deaths and injuries.
The Telly Awards are judged by a panel of more than 500 industry leaders and honour the best television, cable, video, film and web-based productions each year. This year’s winners were selected from a pool of nearly 11,000 entries.

The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards programme honouring the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and identity work for print, video, interactive audio. This year’s Communicator Awards received thousands of entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world.

Cheating Death was produced by the Amtrak Police Department, Donnabrant Productions and Dog House Media.

(July 14th, 2011)

Dick Durbin, a Democrat Senator for Illinois, has convened a stakeholder meeting to forge a consensus as to the way ahead with the Springfield rail corridor consolidation scheme (LXinfo July 2011) which will eliminate a number of level crossings

Senator Durbin engaged politicians operating at federal, state and local levels as well as the affected railways and other agencies in an attempt to short-circuit the process to agree a single option that balances enhanced public safety, provides the best quality of life for residents and boosts the local economy.

The Senator’s opening position was that the Springfield issues should be addressed within the context of the wider Chicago to St Louis corridor study that is scheduled for completion in 2012. One issue that still needs to be addressed is the cost of the Springfield consolidation as the estimate of USD 318 million contained in the study undertaken by Hanson Engineering have been challenged with some suggesting that the likely costs could be as much as double.

However, the Springfield consolidation is at risk because the Federal Railroad Administration’s “Rail Relocation Program” would cease if the proposal to cut spending on transportation by 30% tabled in Congress on July 7th, 2011 is approved.

Notwithstanding this, the FRA has said that it will review the Hanson Engineering report addressing consolidation in Springfield and may identify options not addressed in Hanson’s report when considering the environmental impact of consolidation in Springfield.

(July 13th, 2011)

A man was killed when the car in which he was travelling was struck by a train on the level crossing on Rang Sud in Saint-Tite which has a substantive accident history. The accident which occurred on July 12th was on a heavily skewed active open crossing at which sightlines had been improved following a previous, fortunately non-fatal, accident in 2007.

Residents and regular users of the level crossing in question have for many years argued that lights alone are insufficient and that the crossing on Rang Sud should be upgraded to an automatic half-barrier status. However, to date, the railway’s response has been that the crossing meets the standards set by Transport Canada.

(July 13th, 2011)

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has published a report setting out the findings of research to obtain information on attitudes and experiences related to red light camera enforcement in cities with camera programmes and in Houston, Texas, where cameras were removed after voters rejected the programme in November 2010.

The approach adopted was to conduct telephone surveys with 3,111 drivers in 14 large cities (each with a population greater than200,000) with long-standing red light camera programmes and 300 drivers in Houston, using random samples of landline and mobile telephone numbers. For analyses combining responses from the 14 cities, cases were weighted to reflect each city’s share of the total population for the 14 cities.

The study found that among drivers in the 14 cities with red light camera programmes, two-thirds favour the use of cameras for red light enforcement, and 42% strongly favour it. The chief reasons for opposing cameras were the perceptions that cameras make mistakes and that the motivation for installing them is revenue, not safety. In so far as using photo-enforcement at level crossings, the potential severity of accidents should make it easier to argue that the use of cameras at level crossings is justified.

Nearly 90% of drivers were aware of the camera enforcement programmes in their cities, and 59% of these drivers believe the cameras have made intersections safer. Almost 50% know someone who had received a red light camera citation and 17% had received at least one ticket themselves.

 

(July 12th, 2011)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a fact sheet which shows the contribution of speeding in fatal accidents. With data correct to the end of 2009, the fact shows that of the 33,808 fatalities on US roads, 10,591 had speeding as a contributory factor. Looking behind the headline 31% contribution of speeding, the figure for males aged 20 or less was 39%.

Worryingly, in 2009, 43% of the speeding drivers had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 g/dl or higher, compared to 17% of non-speeding drivers.

(July 12th, 2011)

NHTSA fact sheet

The University of Minnesota's Center for Transportation Studies has released a report that explores the development of the mobile accessible pedestrian signals (MAPS) prototype. This is designed to help support decision making by blind pedestrians at signalised intersections.

The MAPS system integrates Smartphone, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and traffic signal controller technologies to provide signal phasing and timing, and intersection geometry information to pedestrians at signalised intersections. The system has potential applications at active level crossings.

People with vision impairment have different perception and spatial cognition as compared to the sighted people. Blind pedestrians primarily rely on auditory, olfactory, or tactile feedback to determine spatial location and find their way. They generally have difficulty crossing intersections due to lack of traffic information at intersections.

Among the intersection crossing sub-tasks, locating crosswalk, determining when to cross and maintaining alignment to crosswalk while crossing are the most difficult tasks for the blind and visually impaired. To understand how the blind pedestrians make safe crossing decisions, ten blind and low-vision individuals were interviewed. The purpose of these interviews was to understand the types of information they use while making safe intersection crossings and identify new information types that could assist them.

A Mobile Accessible Pedestrian Signals (MAPS) prototype was developed to support decision making at signalised intersections.

The MAPS integrates sensors on a Smartphone, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth technologies, and traffic signal controllers were developed to provide intersection geometry information and Signal Phasing and Timing (SPaT) to pedestrians who are blind at signalised intersections. A single-tap command on the Smartphone screen allows users to request for intersection geometry information, such as street name, direction and number of lanes at a corner of an intersection.

A double-tap input while pointing toward desired direction of crossing will confirm the crossing direction, request for pedestrian phase, and the Smartphone application will then wirelessly request for signal timing and phasing information from traffic signal controller.

Clearly, further work would be needed to develop the application to take account of the particular characteristics of a level crossing. However, having read the report, this does not appear to be out of the question.

The full MAPS report can be found at:
http://www.cts.umn.edu/Publications/
ResearchReports/reportdetail.html?id=2040

(July 12th, 2011)

The Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Operation Lifesaver (OL) joined forces to promote the safe use of level crossings and dangers of trespass to public officials, representatives of the media and the public. Central to the event was a special train operating from South St Paul to Farmington and return.

(July 12th, 2011)

A collision between an articulated truck and an Amtrak passenger train led to a fire which burnt out the front of the locomotive. The truck driver was killed in the collision and six others injured as a result of the accident which occurred when the train was travelling at 70 mph.

The collision occurred on an automatic half-barrier level crossing in North Berwick at about 11.00 on July 11th, 2011. Officials have confirmed that the lights and audible alarms were functional at the time of the collision and that the barriers had lowered as intended.

Reports attributed to a witness to the collision have said that the truck driver applied the brakes too late to stop as required and that the brakes had locked leading to the truck skidding some 60 metres into the path of the train.

As a result of the collision, the locomotive separated from the passenger carriages. This had the effect of restricting the fire to the locomotive which was extensively damaged before fire-fighters were able to extinguish the blaze.

Police are checking the truck driver’s mobile telephone records to determine if this was a factor in the driver not controlling his truck in a manner that would have brought it to a stand short of the level crossing. Police sources have indicated that the truck driver had two speeding convictions in Maine. More widely, the truck driver is reported as having a further four speeding convictions as well as two relating to the condition of a vehicle and three others for non-disclosed offences.

Maine Operation Lifesaver has said that this was the first fatal accident on a level crossing in Maine in more than four years.
Media reports have referenced the parallels between this accident and that which occurred in Nevada less than two weeks earlier when a truck collided with the side of a passenger train leading to fire which in turn killed a number of train occupants (LXinfo July 2011). 

(July 11th, 2011)

Kansas City Southern Railroad’s (KCS) police officers joined forces with their peers from state, county and local police officers to get across the railway safety message to attendees at Monroe’s Fourth Annual Public Safety Expo. The event held on July 9th, 2011 was co-ordinated by Louisiana State Police Troop F addressed a wide range of public safety issues.

(July 10th, 2011)

A car was destroyed and both occupants seriously injured when it was hit by a train on the Avenida Valentina level crossing in Mogi das Cruzes, Sao Paulo. The accident occurred at 00.20 on July 9th, 2011. Although active controls are fitted at the level crossing, it has been reported that while the lights activated, the barrier was not lowered when the accident occurred. The state government has confirmed that the municipality of Mogi das Cruzes is responsible for the safe operation of the crossing.

The municipality has indicated that the automatic barriers had, because of a technical fault, not closed off the road completely and that the car was able to pass through even though a train was approaching. In the circumstances the municipality does not consider the crossing attendants to have acted improperly as the barriers did not respond properly to the “lower” command”.

(July 10th, 2011)

Since the bridge across the CSX transportation (CSX) right-of-way closed more than two years ago, access to fishing spots adjacent to the dam and locks on the Kanawha river in London has not been possible. Now, agreement is in sight between CSX and American Electric Power (AEP) which will see access provided over an existing level crossing of the CSX right-of-way, enabling fishing to resume.

The date when the new access for the public will be available downstream of the lock and dam is dependent on CSX and AEP lawyers finalising the agreement

(July 9th, 2011)

A new level crossing has been completed in Sáenz Peña, Buenos Aires. The crossing is significant in that it creates a legitimate route across the railway and should much reduce the presently endemic levels of trespass as citizens seek to move between neighbourhoods presently divided by a railway over which there has been no convenient level or grade-separated crossing of the railway.

(July 11th, 2011)

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced today that a "stronger effort" is needed to resolve key safety issues highlighted on watchlist released in March 2010.
"The TSB's goal is to improve transportation safety," said Board Chair Wendy Tadros. "That means speaking up if risks still remain, and pushing for change when not enough has been done. And right now, progress is stalling."

The Watchlist highlights nine key issues posing the greatest risk to Canada's transportation system. Underpinning these issues is a series of 41 safety recommendations — action items aimed at both industry and regulators. And while Tadros said the past year has seen progress on Marine and Rail safety issues—with seven recommendations receiving the Board's highest grade of "Fully Satisfactory"—she called the lack of similar progress in aviation "troubling".

Tadros added that the TSB also plans to release a periodic "scorecard" aimed at tracking developments and commitments by the regulator, Transport Canada. "We will report publicly on the results next spring," she said, "when we update our Watchlist. Those issues that have been squarely addressed will be removed, and if necessary, we'll add new issues of concern at that time."

Level crossing safety is an area where Canada’s federal government is through Transport Canada working to develop new regulations tightening standards on high-speed corridors and preventing any new crossings from being built where train speeds exceed 80 mph.

(July 7th, 2011)

A collision on a level crossing in Villa Mitre between a freight train and a car left a motorist with serious injuries. The collision was on the level crossing at the intersection of calles Falucho and Montevideo. The accident which occurred at approximately 08.25 on July 2nd, 2011 may have been initiated when the car hit the active crossing controls and then slid into the path of the train. Considering the damage to the car, the motorist was lucky to have survived.

(July 2nd, 2011)

Remains of the car

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has released safety statistics for the first four months of 2011 which show that there were 83 crossing accidents, 1.2% fewer than the corresponding figure in 2010. Fatalities in the same period in 2011 were 85; one less than in 2010.

(July 1st, 2011)