Rail Officials Stress Safety on Metrolink Route

To prevent a surge in deadly rail crossing accidents when Metrolink begins running Monday, state and county officials are launching a crackdown on motorists who attempt to drive around crossing-guard barriers.

Under the crackdown, which also starts Monday, police officers will be stationed aboard trains and guards will be placed at grade crossings. The campaign is designed to educate motorists and pedestrians to the danger presented by the trains--a peril reflected in a string of deaths at Metro Blue Line crossings and in the rising number of fatalities statewide from crossing accidents.

Since the Metro Blue Line went into service in July, 1990, seven people have died and 40 have been injured in more than 100 accidents at rail crossings along the line’s 22-mile route connecting downtown to Long Beach.

Most of the accidents, according to police, have involved drivers or pedestrians who ignored warning signs or crossing gates.

To curtail such accidents on the Metrolink line, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has hired 40 crossing guards. They will be stationed at 35 busy train crossings throughout the system during the first three weeks of service.

In the San Fernando Valley--traversed by two of the three Metrolink lines--guards will be assigned to crossings at Hubbard, Maclay and Jessie streets and at Brand Boulevard in the city of San Fernando. They will also be stationed at Paxton Street, Van Nuys Boulevard and Branford Street in Pacoima and Sunland Boulevard in Sun Valley.

“We want the guards to remind people that now there are additional lines to worry about,” said Richard Stanger, executive director of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which includes transportation officials from five counties.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees train safety, also plans to have Los Angeles police officers make random sweeps through the trains to spot motorists and pedestrians ignoring the crossing gates. Using portable radios, the officers on the trains will report violations to other officers who will follow the trains in patrol cars or park near rail crossings.

The idea, Stanger said, is “to get people to stop doing something stupid.”

Police can issue tickets for infractions, which carry fines ranging from $90 to $250.

“We have a big problem not only with motorists but with pedestrians darting across the tracks,” said James McInerney, the utilities commission’s Southern California supervisor for the rail safety program, dubbed Operation Lifesaver.

“We’ve even had passengers get out and lift the guardrail up so the car can go under,” he said.

To make it difficult for motorists to skirt lowered guardrails, the utilities commission is also planning to build raised median islands at some of the major crossings, Stanger said. To drive around the lowered rails, motorists would have to drive over the raised islands, he said.

The number of accidents involving train crossings has decreased steadily statewide from 469 in 1980 to 309 in 1990, a decrease partly attributed to the program. The number of fatalities, however, has increased from 33 deaths in 1980 to 44 in 1990, the most recent year for which the utilities commission has records.

The Metrolink locomotives weigh about 129 tons and travel at a maximum speed of 88 m.p.h. In the most recent fatality on the Blue Line--on Sept. 12--a train hit a car and hurled it 40 yards off the track and into a power pole, where it caught fire, killing the driver and critically injuring a passenger.

In Southern California, McInerney attributes the increase in deaths partly to the start of the Blue Line.

He blames motorists and pedestrians for being impatient and careless at rail crossings. “People are just taking more chances driving around gates,” he said.

Of the 309 accidents at rail crossings statewide in 1990, more than 30% involved vehicles failing to stop while a train approached, he said.

The county transportation commission this month mailed pamphlets with safety tips to more than 1 million residents living within three miles of the three Metrolink routes, said Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo.

And, as part of Operation Lifesaver, the utilities commission has also offered rail safety lessons at grade schools along the routes. The officials will use Travis the Owl, a character similar to McGruff the Crime Dog, as their spokesman.

The mascot will give schoolchildren safety tips--telling them never to play on railroad tracks or in tunnels and never to throw rocks at a train. In an effort to educate adults at the same time, Travis the Owl will urge children to remind their parents to stop at train crossings when they see lowered guardrails and flashing lights.

Almost two years after the Blue Line service was launched, county transportation officials deployed 10 additional sheriff’s deputies on motorcycles and in cars to patrol the route for a 90-day period. During that time, deputies issued 7,700 citations to people who ignored warning lights and crossing-guard bars.

“The magnitude of the problem was just amazing,” said Lou Hubaud, safety and security director for the regional rail corporation.

There are plans to install hidden cameras at two rail crossings on the Blue Line route to take photos of motorists and cars that bypass lowered crossing gates. Officials say the cameras will be installed within 30 days for a 120-day trial period before transportation officials decide whether to install more cameras permanently.