(The following story by Billy Townsend appeared on The Tampa Tribune website on September 4.)
LAKELAND, Fla. — A federal inspection of 400 railroad crossings from West Palm Beach to St. Petersburg found more than two-thirds failed to comply with federal law, officials with the Federal Railroad Administration said.
Of the 400 crossings inspected, all maintained by CSX Transportation, 272 had at least one defect that put them out of compliance, the officials said.
The federal study, known as a focused inspection, was prompted by collisions at rail crossings in the Lakeland and Plant City areas that killed six people within a month this summer.
Most of the defects found are not immediate safety problems, officials said. One rail administration spokesman, Steve Kulm, equated them to a “broken taillight” on a car.
At least some, however, are considered serious enough that CSX could face civil penalties. Those violations are not considered public records until after they’ve been through the regulatory process, the officials said. That won’t happen for months.
Asked how many serious violations were found, the federal officials would say only “not a large number.” Nor would they describe where or what the serious violations are.
In a statement Friday, CSX said that in 2006, it “reduced train accidents 24 percent in its 23-state system and will spend $1.5 billion in 2007, much of it toward the maintenance and upgrade of infrastructure and rail equipment.”
The more serious violations relate directly to the proper functioning of safety equipment, such as crossing arms, the rail administration officials said.
In each crash, a driver either tried to run a crossing gate or failed to clear tracks and was struck by a fast-moving Amtrak passenger train. There has been no indication that any of the crossing equipment in those crashes malfunctioned.
Between July 30 and Aug. 8, federal inspectors checked 400 crossings on lines between West Palm Beach and Auburndale, Auburndale and Tampa, and Tampa and Pinellas County.
The rail administration officials said examples of the less-serious violations included:
• No written circuitry plans available for electronic management systems at crossings.
• Malfunctioning light bulbs.
• Signs in bad condition.
CSX employees accompanied the federal inspectors on their examination of the crossings. “So they were notified immediately, and we think they have corrected them,” Kulm said.
CSX officials were not immediately available for comment Friday morning.
The inspection also confirmed that many of the records of these crossings’ characteristics, collectively known as an inventory, are inaccurate.
Federal law does not require that the records be maintained accurately, but state rail officials have said they consider the records important and pay for them to be kept accurately.
The federal officials say it is common for inventory records to contain inaccuracies. They note that the rail administration continues to ask Congress to mandate prompt, accurate updating of records.
Previous reporting by The Tampa Tribune revealed that federal records for several crossings in the Lakeland area, including the Wabash Avenue crossing where four young adults were killed July 16, incorrectly described safety equipment in use.
The stretch of track that has seen the recent crashes is set to become CSX’s prime Florida freight rail line, thanks to a $491 million deal with the state of Florida to reorganize rail traffic in the state and provide commuter rail service for Orlando.