(The following report appeared on the Wellington Daily News website on March 29.)
WELLINGTON, Kan. — The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company is building the 21st Century railroad.
Double-tracking the Panhandle has swiftly moved from a fanciful thoughts to a high-dollar project in the works.
A second track will be added between Milan and Attica, a 31-mile track across the county.
It is anticipated the improvements to the railway will increase train traffic in Sumner County by up to 200 trains per day. That puts trains crossing each seven minutes in the county, according to officials.
Matlock said county officials weren’t aware of the numbers of trains which would be coming through the town and communities “until they were already upon us.”
Further, he had these comments, “We’re not going to he able to stop the railroad from double tracking because of the impact on the economy at the federal level.”
“We’re not here to bash the railroad but we’re here to try to make a way to work with them.”
Matlock said he would like to see active crossings at every interesection along the railway for safety reasons.
“I have a real problem with having a crossing in the county after they double track that is not an active crossing,” he said.
However, Al Cathcart, coordinating engineer for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said as few as five projects would be dedicated to Sumner County. Further discussion was given to the formula used by KDOT to determine if a crossing warrants the active crossing. Cathcart said the most recent studies for Sumner County were done in 2000.
For the 152 who showed up to the public meeting Monday evening in the Raymond Frye Complex, it was a rare opportunity to see officials from the KDOT, the railway, and county officials openly discussing the effects of the track upon the everyday working individuals across the county.
Sumner County officials dealt with what they called “unsafe conditions” created and multiplied by the double-tracks. The entire group then wrestled with decisions which could make roads safer, but would then burden the emergency crews, farmers, and residents who rely on those routes.
For some, problems already exist with blind crossings, or steep inclines on the approach of the tracks which would make it easy for a vehicle engine to die at or on the tracks.
Residents voiced concerns with noise levels, the amount of time the tracks would be blocked, the amount of time roads would be blocked as crews begin dirtwork then lay the lines across the county and more.
And, while much attention was given to the work which could be done at the road crossings to help vehicles make safe passage across the tracks, it seemed a hopeless venture to get overcrossings for pedestrians where a railway passes through a community.
Some ideas offered included having school buses now only travel routes with active crossing arms across railways, but the cost of doing so could create too much of a burden to the already tight school budgets.
Matlock presented a map of the county marking the intersections with designations of low to high volume roads and areas where the county already has active crossings.
He also presented the group with the proposal by the railway for those crossings they would like to see closed. It included each crossing between Milan and Argonia, one audience member pointed out.
And, even closing the low volume roads would make a difference to those who use that road, said many who rural residents.
Sumner County Commissioners will have the ultimate decision as to whether any crossing in the county will be closed. Before that decision will be made, Chairman Elden Gracy said there would be a public meeting.
At the end of the night, it seemed the rural residents had fought hard enough to keep their crossings open.
“Keep the roads open and keep trying to make them active. It sounds to me like that’s what the people in Sumner County want to have happen,” said Matlock. “Because if we ever close them, we will never get them back.”