(The following story by Don Willis appeared on The Ironton Tribune website on January 25.)
IRONTON, Ohio — About every two hours in the United States, a person or vehicle is hit by a train.
As staggering as that may seem, the number is actually a dramatic reduction from just a few decades ago.
Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit organization, was created in 1972 for the soul purpose of reducing train-related fatalities and mishaps.
According to the organization, there were around 12,000 collisions between trains and motor vehicles annually when the organization began in 1972. By 2004, the number of train/motor vehicle collisions had been reduced by more than 74 percent to 3,038.
Ohio is still one of the most dangerous states in terms of train fatalities.
In terms of overall collisions with trains, Ohio is ranked fourth in the nation behind only California, Indiana, Illinois and Texas. During 2005, there were 133 crossing collisions in the state. Ohio is also ranked 13th in the nation by number of railroad trespassing fatalities. There were 12 deaths in Ohio in 2005.
Although railroad tracks are an all-too common sight, especially in southern Ohio, walking on or near railroad tracks, trestles, yards and equipment is illegal. Since the area is considered private property, trespassers are subject to arrest and fines.
According to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, there are 73 active and nonactive railroad crossings in Lawrence County.
The crossing where the two young girls were killed Wednesday has, on average, about 15 trains passing through during the daytime and about 12 passing through at night. The track speed around Ironton is 50 mph, according to Norfolk Southern.
The train had 115 cars loaded with coal and was headed from Williamson, W.Va., to Ashtabula in northeast Ohio, railway spokesman Rudy Husband said.
The Federal Railroad Administration within the United States Department of Transportation is responsible for collecting information about highway-rail grade crossing and pedestrian/trespasser incidents.