Rail Crossings on Private Land Debated

The Amtrak collision that killed a 24-year-old Saticoy woman last weekend is the third accident this year between a train and a vehicle on a private road in Ventura County and comes at a time when rail industry officials are debating the merits of reducing the number of such crossings.

The crossings often have no signals or safety gates and are located in rural areas where people are not used to watching out for speeding locomotives, said the head of a statewide rail safety group.

Evelia Alonso was killed Sunday afternoon when an Amtrak train carrying about 150 passengers ripped her car in two and sent it tumbling down an embankment near California 118 and La Cumbre Road in Somis. Alonso was thrown about 20 feet from the vehicle, police said. She died at the scene. No one aboard the train was injured.

Amtrak spokesman Dominick Albano said the crossing where the accident happened typically is not a dangerous route. He added, however, that railway companies are concerned about such private crossings.

In fact, some officials advocate buying certain parcels of private land surrounding those railroad crossings and closing the intersections, Albano said. It’s not a measure the railroad industry is actively pursuing, “but in the end, if it’s saving lives, certainly it’s something we have endorsed in the past,” he said.

Eric Jacobsen, who heads a nonprofit rail safety group, said those in the rail industry are keeping a close eye on private railroad crossings and are interested in trimming the number of locations where roads and tracks intersect, be they private or public.

“We’re working really hard with private crossings,” said Jacobsen, president of California Operation Lifesaver, based in Foresthill, west of Lake Tahoe. The group works to prevent railway accidents by educating drivers and pedestrians.

“In a perfect world, every single grade crossing would be separated with an overpass, but realistically, there’s not enough money in the world to do that,” he said.

Two other train wrecks occurred this year on Ventura County’s private roads, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. No one was hurt in the earlier accidents, one of which involved an Amtrak train in Camarillo, the other a freight train in Santa Paula.

Of the 23 Ventura County rail collisions involving vehicles or pedestrians between 1994 and 1998, only one was on a private road, the agency reported. Five of those incidents resulted in fatalities; another five resulted in injuries.

Jacobsen said private crossings can be dangerous because drivers become complacent about checking to see whether a train is coming--especially if drivers pass a rail crossing often.

“You just lose the attention span,” he said. “It only takes once.”

The train’s engineer told police officials that Alonso’s car failed to stop at a stop sign at the railroad crossing. The engineer sounded the train’s horn four times, but was unable to avoid hitting the car, according to police.

Aurora Ordaz, who lives at the residence where Alonso was attending a friend’s family gathering, wants to see retractable safety gates installed at the crossing. She said Sunday’s fatal wreck is the second she’s known of in the seven years she has lived at the residence.

But Jacobsen said such safety devices can provide a false sense of security, because some drivers try to beat trains by going around the safety gates.

“In that race, you eventually stand to lose,” he said.