(The following story by Can Chanzit appeared in the Kane County Chronicle on January 27.)
ELBURN, Ill. — Residents who want to tempt fate at railroad crossings can expect police officers to be watching later this winter.
Elburn Police Chief James Linane said the village will begin targeted enforcement in March at various crossings.
The checks will be part of a program called Operation Lifesaver, which is administered by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Earlier this month, the village was awarded an $18,056 state grant to implement the railroad safety program.
“We will hit it for a week or two,” Linane told village trustees Monday. “We do it already, but it will increase. It will be much stricter enforcement.”
Village and state officials said the safety push will encourage residents to respect the Union Pacific tracks that run through the village’s downtown.
Traffic is halted by about 100 trains each day. Also, a Metra commuter station is slated to open in Elburn in December 2005.
Village officials have said some motorists try to beat oncoming trains by ignoring flashing lights and bypassing guardrails.
“It’s just not very smart,” Village President James Willey said.
Linane said disobeying a train signal is punishable by a $250 fine. Subsequent violations are $500, he said.
State officials said the railroad safety program has been successful.
“It will provide awareness so that something bad doesn’t happen,” said Chip Pew, the state’s Operation Lifesaver coordinator.
Operation Lifesaver was designed to increase public awareness of railroad dangers. It is aimed at children, pedestrians and motorists.
The program began in 1972 in Idaho when UP and community leaders teamed up to fight a growing number of highway railroad accidents.
A year later, the program was credited with cutting fatality rates by 40 percent.
Also on Monday, village officials discussed the possibility of building an upgraded fence along the tracks on East Nebraska Street.
Last year, a group of residents requested a privacy fence rather than the chain-link fence UP agreed to construct.
Willey said the village talked to UP officials, who said they would not pay for an upgrade because it is above and beyond that which they already have agreed.
UP officials said they would abandon building the chain-link fence if residents or the village would pay for a privacy fence.
However, UP officials said the fence would have to be moved off the railroad’s right of way.
Village officials said the upgrade could cost about $10,000. It is unclear whether residents or the village would pay for the upgrade.
Instead, village trustees suggested a landscaping easement on the residents’ property. The result could be a line of evergreens in front of Metra’s chain-link fence.
“We have to get the residents along there to agree,” Willey said.
Village officials said they plan to contact residents to discuss options.