(The following article by Susan Kuczka was posted on the Chicago Tribune website on August 11.)
CHICAGO — In the wake of the deaths of more than a dozen people struck by Metra trains this year, North Chicago officials announced plans Tuesday to use a $25,000 federal grant for a campaign on rail-crossing safety.
Standing outside the Metra station across the street from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Mayor Bette Thomas said the estimated 15,000 to 30,000 recruits assigned to the base on a daily basis would be one target of the campaign.
“We want to work together,” Thomas said during a news conference also attended by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who announced the grant to North Chicago.
“Our goal is to reduce the incidents, reduce the accidents, reduce the fatalities, use education and enforcement, and I think it’s the right track,” Durbin said.
Navy Capt. Kathy Hobbs said many recruits living at the base are from small towns without trains running through them, making them somewhat unaware of the potential dangers of railroad crossings.
Although Navy personnel regularly warn recruits to be observant at the pedestrian crossings, Hobbs said North Chicago’s plans to place safety posters and play videos in the Great Lakes station would be helpful.
North Chicago has 10 pedestrian crossings and averages about one train accident a year.
The money also will be used to train the city’s police officers and firefighters in public safety techniques that they can share with schoolchildren, community groups, civic groups and block clubs, said Rob May, North Chicago’s director of community development and planning.
North Chicago is one of 22 Illinois communities slated to receive a federal safety grant this year through an Illinois Commerce Commission pilot program. Others include Des Plaines and Naperville.
“Certainly, with all the incidents we’ve had, there’s an awareness [about railroad crossing dangers] out there now,” said Chip Pew, state coordinator for the commission’s Operation Lifesaver program. “North Chicago getting this money means they can increase their efforts.”