(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Doug Simpson on June 20.)
BATON ROUGE, La. — Vehicle collisions with trains have caused 13 deaths in Louisiana so far this year, and state government needs to step in and shut down intersections that are too dangerous, the state House decided on Monday.
Sen. Art Lentini’s bill would allow the Department of Transportation and Development to shut down local crossings that it considers too dangerous, a power now held by the local governments that control the roads in question. The measure has the support of Gov. Kathleen Blanco, whose grandfather was killed in a train-vehicle wreck in Iberia Parish.
The transportation department now has a list of 50 crossings around the state that it says should be closed — a safety measure that can be unpopular in the area where the closure occurs, because people face longer drives when a convenient crossing is closed.
Lentini, R-Kenner, has said local politicians need the state to intervene because they face too much political heat if they shut down a crossing on their own.
House members rejected a move by Rep. Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, to overhaul the measure by adding a provision that would give the state Public Service Commission regulatory power over the railroad industry. The amendment would create a team of PSC workers to inspect rail lines and trains.
Townsend said any member voting against his measure was “beholden to the railroads,” which he called “a monopoly that’s basically unregulated.”
The idea of giving the PSC power over the railroads had previously been the focus of a bill introduced in the Senate and had the backing of PSC member Foster Campbell. A Senate committee killed that bill after senators decided it was simply a push to make the PSC more powerful.
Rep. Roy Quezaire, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, spoke in opposition to Townsend’s proposal, saying it was an attempt to sneak into legislation after the bill failed on its own.
“This is a snaky amendment that’s trying to slither its way into this piece of legislation,” said Quezaire, D-Donaldsonville.
The House rejected the amendment in a 28-70 vote. The bill passed in a 88-11 vote and goes back to the Senate for approval of changes.
The 13 train-vehicle collision deaths this year are on a pace that could approach a record for Louisiana set in the 1960s. The state is routinely among the top five states in the nation in such wrecks, according to Operation Lifesaver, a group that tracks the accidents nationwide.