(The following article by Harrison Sheppard was posted on the San Bernardino County Sun website on January 30.)
SACRAMENTO — The Glendale commuter train crash that left 11 people dead has sparked new calls for stronger safety measures such as more bridges over railroad tracks.
But experts in rail safety and several public officials said the state probably won’t and shouldn’t step up its schedule for such projects.
Experts said such projects are generally aimed at decreasing accidental collisions but would likely not stop someone determined to commit suicide on train tracks as authorities say Juan Manuel Alvarez was. Even if one intersection was improved, such a person would simply drive on until he finds one that wasn’t.
“Assuming you can (fix) all the intersections that present a problem, it’s very effective,’ said James Moore, an engineering professor and rail-safety expert at USC. “If you can only (fix) a few of them, it’s wasted money.’
The fixes usually consist of building either a bridge or a tunnel to divert either the car or train traffic, speeding up traffic flow and avoiding the possibility of collisions.
After last week’s crash, Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn urged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to step up its lobbying for safety measures, including barriers and separations.
The California Public Utilities Commission has developed and ranked a list of 58 railroad crossings where projects are recommended.
But state funding for these projects has remained at $15 million a year since 1974, with the rest coming from local sources, according to state officials.
The federal government is providing about $8.3 million this year, according to the state Department of Finance. Each project can cost at least $20 million, with the state contribution usually maxing out at $5 million. Nationwide, the federal government has budgeted about $100 million this year for such projects.
In the 1999-2000 legislative session, Assemblyman Tom Calderon, D-Montebello, proposed a bill that would have increased state funding to $60 million, but the bill died in committee amid concerns that it would take funds away from higher-priority projects.
Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Carson, the current chairwoman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, said it is unlikely those projects will receive increased funding this year.
“She thinks it would be wonderful to do something like that, especially in certain areas,’ said Oropeza aide Ray Sotero, “but she has concerns it would reduce funding for higher-priority projects that serve the entire state.
“(Glendale) was a tragic event that happened, but you can’t protect against someone who’s determined to kill himself. If this took public will away from solutions to statewide transportation problems, it would not serve residents fairly.’
H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Finance Department, said there has been no discussion of whether to increase the funding in the wake of last week’s disaster.
Nationally, the number of crashes and deaths at railroad crossings has steadily decreased in the past 20 years, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
In 1975, there were more than 12,000 collisions, resulting in 917 deaths. In 2003, there were less than 3,000 collisions, resulting in about 500 deaths.
Federal officials believe the reduction is the result of increased education efforts, better safety engineering and increased enforcement.
Trains usually do not derail in most collisions, and most of those killed are passengers in motor vehicles rather than those on the train, said Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flatau.
Railroad bridges or underpasses can vastly improve safety at intersections, but they are generally reserved for particularly dangerous areas because of the expense, he said.
Southern California’s Alameda Corridor is one example of a massive need for bridges or underpasses that cost billions and was intended to improve safety and traffic flow along the rail line.
Rail-safety experts say there are less expensive alternatives to bridges or underpasses. Some crossings have more effective barriers, such as moving chain-link fences that are effective in preventing accidents, not suicide attempts. A stronger barrier would also mean that a person would have a harder time getting out if he changed his mind at the last second.
That is one reason why most crossings have relatively flimsy wooden arms to signal cars to stop, experts say.
“Those gates are flimsy for a reason,’ said Richard Clark, director of consumer protection and safety for the Public Utilities Commission. “People sometimes get trapped inside the gates, so they need to be able to get out, or they pass over the line and the gate comes down on them, so they need to be able to back up.’
With an estimated cost of $15 million to $20 million each, it would take several billion dollars to do even the high-priority crossings.