(The following story by Eric Smith appeared on The Daily News website on April 25.)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Trains rumble through Memphis every day, generating money for the local economy in the form of cargo loaded or unloaded in town.
All that activity and all those goods create more jobs and more demand for warehouse space, boosting the area’s logistics and distribution industries.
But the city’s heavy rail traffic brings as much potential for disaster as it does for dividends.
Vehicles and pedestrians have to cross those busy train tracks, which is why Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) is sponsoring Rail Safety Week through Sunday.
The national awareness campaign is highlighted with Thursday’s safety blitz at a rail crossing on Fite Road in North Memphis, east of U.S. 51. CN risk managers and railroad police officers will be on hand from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. to discuss ways people can avoid the dangers that surround railways.
“It’s one of the ways we try to spread the message of safety … to the public,” said Jim Kvedaras, senior manager of U.S. public and government affairs for CN. “We’ve picked a number of representative crossings across our system to conduct these safety blitzes.”
The blitzkrieg
Kvedaras said the company has been hosting Rail Safety Week for “20-plus years.” CN has targeted cities where it has significant operations.
“We’ll go into different communities and different crossings just so we can keep the message fresh and get the message in front of new people,” he said.
CN, whose U.S. headquarters are in Homewood, Ill., wants to make sure Memphians get that message.
The company is one of five Class I railroads in town. It has 145 miles of track in Tennessee. It runs between 20 and 25 trains daily through the Memphis area, plus another five or six local trains that deliver or pick up cars from local businesses near the main rail lines.
CN employs about 400 people in the city at its intermodal facility in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park, which boasts 160,000 intermodal lifts per year, and at its Johnston Yard freight yard.
So, a safety blitz here makes sense, especially in light of the hundreds of rail-related fatalities each year across the nation. In 2006, there were 530 trespassing and 362 vehicle-crossing deaths in the United States, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
“We’re imploring drivers to be aware of their behaviors not just at CN crossings, but at any rail crossing in North America,” Kvedaras said. “We’re imploring them to just be ready for a train that can be arriving at any time from either direction along the tracks.”
Thou shalt not trespass
This year’s safety campaign stresses the dangers of trespassing. More than 53 percent of trespassing incidents result in death, a 14.5 percent increase from 2005.
“Industry-wide, we’re seeing a decrease in the amount of crossing accidents and fatalities for vehicles versus trains,” Kvedaras said. “At the same time, the railroads are reporting an uptick in the number of trespassing incidents that they’re finding on their properties, and that’s concerning.”
Trespassing incidents happen when pedestrians walk along a track and are struck by a train. Often, it happens with people driving all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles along a track, who are unable to hear an approaching train.
For Kvedaras, reducing the number of incidents involving pedestrians and vehicles is of the utmost importance for all railroad companies.
“Safety in all aspects is absolutely mission critical for CN, as well as any railroad in the U.S.,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is find the best ways to mitigate these instances where people are just putting themselves at risk for no reason. We don’t know why they put themselves at risk, but we see it on a daily basis.”
Risky business
One of the most obvious places where pedestrians and trains present a volatile mix is on the University of Memphis campus. A rail line that runs parallel to Southern Avenue bisects the campus, separating major parking lots and athletic facilities from the dorms and academic buildings.
On the occasion that a train stops and blocks access, students sometimes climb between train cars to avoid delay. More often, whenever a horn sounds in the distance, signaling another approaching train, students scramble across the tracks to avoid the wait.
Derek Myers, deputy director of police services, acknowledges that this is a tragedy waiting to happen.
“You kind of hold your breath, probably like the conductor’s doing, because you can hear him lay on the horn when he sees people doing that,” Myers said. “It’s not a very smart thing to do, and we definitely discourage that.”
Myers said the university sent out a school-wide e-mail alerting faculty, staff and students to the dangers of trying to “beat” a train.
“We just wanted to remind them that if a train does happen to come to a complete stop, don’t ever go under or over between the rail cars,” he said.
Red handed vs. dead-handed
Meanwhile, talks continue for tunnels under the tracks to allow for cars and students to move safely across the campus without crossing railroad tracks. Until that happens, Myers said the University’s police officers will talk to students if they catch them in the act.
“The officers do take the time to say, ‘Hey, do you not realize that that was extremely unwise?’” he said.
Another unwise practice occurs at the campus’ rail crossing, where vehicles often swerve between the crossing’s safety arms. Myers said the university police department, with the city’s blessing, is issuing more tickets to drivers.
Myers said there have been no vehicle or pedestrian accidents caused by a train on campus, but the possibility remains as long as students and drivers have no other choice but to cross the tracks.
“We all know, obviously, the potential for extreme, even life-threatening injuries there,” he said.