(The following article by Joy E. Stodghill was posted on the Mississippi Press website on January 24.)
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. — Mississippi Operation Lifesaver has teamed up with CSX Transportation to alert the public to the resumed train runs along the Coast’s CSX line.
At a press conference Monday, Rodger Blades, public relations officer with the Ocean Springs Police Department, said, “We will be enforcing the laws.”
Police officers will be out at railroad crossings to ensure drivers heed the warnings and stop for oncoming trains. Donna Prince, executive director of Mississippi Operation Lifesaver, said the fine for going around gates at these crossings when a train is coming are $250 to $500 and/or 30 days in jail.
Prince and law enforcement officers are serious about enforcing rules to ensure people’s safety.
“Why would you put yourself in a position to lose?” Prince asked, referring to anyone who would attempt to cross a railroad track with a train coming.
Robert C. Martin, regional coordinator with CSX Transportation, was also present for the press conference.
“Trains can’t stop quickly; and they don’t have steering wheels,” he said. “You’re going to start seeing trains running this week.”
The trains will begin slowly and sporadically at first as continued repairs are made to the tracks, Martin said. He said CSX expects to be back to normal with 35 trains a day running at approximately 50 mph by the end of March. He said the trains will run primarily at night at first.
Martin said every two hours in the United States, someone is killed when he or she fails to yield to a train.
Railroad inspectors with the Mississippi Department of Transportation have inspected each of the crossings along the Gulf Coast, Martin said.
Resuming a train schedule comes after five months of work on a line with damages that Martin estimates will total $50 million to $60 million once they are complete. Forty miles of track and six major bridges were severely damaged on the line, which stretches from New Orleans, La., to Pensacola, Fla.
Martin said the line services 20 customers. Since the hurricane hit on Aug. 29, 20 percent to 30 percent of the business usually run on the trains had to go to trucks instead, and the rest went to on a longer route.
Prince and Martin continue to actively alert the public about the upcoming changes. Prince said her office has volunteers available to speak to civic clubs, classes or anything else about the need for people to “Look, Listen and Live.”
Mississippi ranked No. 11 in highway-rail grade crossing collisions in 2004, according to the Operation Lifesaver Web site. Eighty-seven collisions were reported, with 12 ending in fatalities.