(The following story by April Diodato appeared on the Dunkirk Observer website on October 13, 2009.)
POMFRET, N.Y. — The utmost importance of heeding warnings at a railroad crossing has been underscored by the fatal accident that took the lives of three Dunkirk men on Van Buren Road Saturday.
Bob Sullivan, spokesman for CSX Corporation, Monday implored motorists to exercise caution when traveling across train tracks. In response to reports the gates may have malfunctioned, Sullivan said it is vital to never make the assumption that it is safe to cross while gates are down.
“Let me be really clear, and sensitive and understanding that there are people who are – and families and friends – who are grieving over the three young men who lost their lives in that terrible collision, and it is certainly a tragedy,” Sullivan said. “The message really is that when gates are down and/or lights are flashing, people really do need to pay attention to those warning devices. They’re in that position for a reason and people need to assume and expect that a train is coming.”
He explained that if there is a problem with the gates that needs to be addressed, “within the mechanism,” they automatically go down. That way, Sullivan said, “people do understand not to cross the tracks at that particular crossing because a train can be coming at any time.”
According to CSX, the train was traveling from Boston to Chicago; there were three locomotives and 29 freight cars.
While the authorized speed of the train in Boston was 60 mph, the exact speed at which the train was traveling at the time of the collision is still being determined.
“It’s important to keep in mind … they are going to move much more quickly than you might think,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said CSX both understands and respects the grieving many are going through as a result of the accident, but added the train crew is experiencing grief as well.
“Here are a couple of people who are doing their job and doing it safely and the way that it’s supposed to be done, and something unfolds in front of them that there’s really nothing they can do – when you really think about it – to prevent it,” Sullivan said.
A train can take more than a mile in order to come to a stop.
“You can’t stop a train the way that you would stop a car or motor vehicle of any kind,” Sullivan said. “And secondly, certainly a train can’t make any kind of evasive maneuver – it can’t swerve around something that’s occurring in front of it.”
When an accident such as this occurs, CSX works with the train crew and gives them the opportunity to end their run immediately following the accident, and another crew will be brought on to carry the train on the rest of its journey; Sullivan said they followed that procedure in this instance. Counseling is also offered to the train crew.
“It’s something that sometimes people don’t think about when they see this kind of a tragedy,” Sullivan said. “There are people in that locomotive who have seen something happen in front of them that they couldn’t do anything about… We understand the grieving that’s going on and (this) is not any way meant to take away from that.”
Warning devices at railroad crossings are considered traffic control devices, Sullivan explained, and the kind of warning devices are generally determined by a combination of municipality, the county and the state government. The volume of motor vehicle traffic in the area of the crossing and the frequency of trains traveling through are both considered.
“And that’s a very heavily used line, 50 to 55 trains a day,” Sullivan said.
“This is the minimum requirement for crossing at a train/road intersection, with the flashing lights and the arms,” Pomfret Town Supervisor Donald Steger said. He could not recall any train/vehicle collisions happening at that crossing in the recent past.
Pomfret Highway Superintendent Jim Oakes said Van Buren Road is a county road and any changes that may be made to the site to ensure further safety will be determined by the county.
CSX is working with the New York State Police on a continuing investigation into the incident.