(The Associated Press circulated the following article on April 18.)
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Railroad officials say they are disappointed that deaths at crossings in South Carolina increased by more than 50 percent last year.
Twelve people died and 27 were injured last year, compared with five fatalities and 25 injuries in 2003. The fatality figure in 2004 is the highest total in seven years.
Norfolk Southern, one of the largest freight carriers in the state, owns the crossings where nine of the 12 deaths occurred, according to federal figures.
“It is disappointing,” said company spokesman Robin Chapman. “We are examining the areas to see if anything can be done to improve it.”
Harvey Levine, a former vice president of the Federal Railroad Association, said the biggest problem is debris or foliage blocking the tracks. “The No. 1 cause of these accidents is sight-obstruction,” Levine said. “Many times a motorist can’t see over the track.”
Johnny Parker, a Columbia attorney who represents family members of the five Graniteville mill workers who were killed last fall in Aiken County, said failure to clear rights of way is a problem.
“I have been involved in numerous cases where we have forced CSX and Norfolk Southern to clear the right of way,” Parker said. “Railroads need to properly maintain their crossings and their signal equipment.”
Railroad companies maintain 98,000 privately owned tracks across the country through agreements with the owners. Maintenance responsibility for the 153,000 publicly owned crossings is shared by the railroads and the state or the city where they are located. The railroads maintain the tracks while the state or city maintains the road around the tracks.
Chapman said Norfolk Southern workers clear railroads of any brush or other obstructions that might impede the driver from seeing a train. Although many railroads clear their tracks, Levine said the government needs to do more to make sure they do.
“Right now, there are standards but not legal standards,” Levine said. “The biggest thing a railroad can do is clear the right of ways. They are morally required to do so, if not legally.”
A law passed in January requires trains to use reflectors and in the next few years, federal officials are attempting to close 25 percent of the 153,000 public crossings in the nation, according to the administration.