Metrolink promotes public safety during California Rail Safety
Week
As CEO of Metrolink, I have great respect for commuter trains. I’ve
spent my entire career trying to get people to ride on them and put
that commute time to better use than strangling a steering wheel in
bumper-to-bumper traffic.
I commute by train myself and daresay I have spent more time
around trains than most people. As much as I love trains, as
comfortable as I feel around them, I still slow down, crack a window
and approach all tracks with extreme caution, and because of my
experience I am probably a whole lot more skilled at judging the
speed of an oncoming train than the average person. Yet I am still
humbled by trains and I am always amazed that anyone would take risks
around these giants.
Would you casually drive across freeway lanes? Would you stroll
across the freeway or teach your children to put pennies on the
freeway because you did it when “you were a kid?” Would you walk your
dog on the freeway? Would you drive through a red signal, bypass
warning gates and make a hard left onto the freeway into oncoming
traffic?
Here at Metrolink, we have witnessed all of this and more. We are
in a constant educational battle about the dangers of moving trains.
At every opportunity, we strive to get the message out.
Trains move very fast, in both directions, and one must never walk
or play on or near train tracks. Metrolink trains can be operated
from the locomotive or the cab car. You can’t assume which direction
the train is traveling by looking for the locomotive. All train
tracks should be approached with care. It is a mistake to race the
train, ignore the warning lights, drive or walk around the safety
barriers or stop on the tracks. Tragically, it may very well be the
last mistake you ever make.
Unfortunately, education and warnings can only do so much. Most
railroad crossings have multiple warning signs including train
whistles, flashing lights and safety gates. I think it is fair to
include the individual’s responsibility to make safe choices into the
safety equation.
Yes, our trains run through densely populated areas. That’s the
whole idea -- to get people to think in terms of working in the city
without driving to the city. This is not a new idea that suddenly
sprouted in Southern California. It’s common in most major cities
around the world. Commuter trains are part of the urban landscape,
and they are 15 times safer than any passenger car and are usually
moving faster than any car on the freeway.
We are seeking, in concert with other modes of transportation, to
find solutions to the ever-increasing gridlock problem in Southern
California. There are many benefits to commuter rail. Rail can grow
with ridership demand. It is reliable, which was amply demonstrated
after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, when Metrolink continued to run
while a number of freeway overpasses collapsed. Trains are a
comfortable, all-weather mode of transportation, ideal for longer
commutes.
With a modicum of caution and common sense, trains can coexist
with passenger cars. This requires that drivers in cars, pedestrians,
bicyclists, dog walkers and everyone else with a notion to cross the
tracks use extreme care.
We are always looking for a fresh or new approach to demonstrate
the need for safe behavior around trains. During this past year we
were part of a televised, staged collision of a train with a
mid-sized car which dramatically showed what little was left of the
car. On literally thousands of occasions we have dispatched our
safety team to educate the public. The state Legislature, meanwhile,
has designated the week of Sept. 8-14 as Rail Safety Week throughout
California.
We hope to get out the message to even more of our citizens that
it is dangerous as well as illegal to stop on the railroad tracks,
trespass on the right-of-way or pull a vehicle into a crossing while
the warning lights are flashing. Sure, it’s only a misdemeanor. But
it’s a misdemeanor that sometimes caries the death penalty.
DAVID R. SOLOW
Chief Executive Officer
Metrolink, Southern California
Regional Rail Authority