(Ernie G. Ringgold is a member of BLE Division 849 in Raleigh, N.C. The Sun Journal posted the following article by Francine Sawyer on its website on May 1.)
NEW BERN, N.C. — Freight trains moving across tracks through eastern North Carolina will eventually travel faster, but the increase in speed has not yet hit this area.
For now, trains passing through a portion of Lenoir, Craven and Carteret counties go a top speed of 35 mph. Trains can travel no faster than 25 mph within city limits.
Railroad tracks have been upgraded in the Raleigh area to Kinston and trains often travel up to 50 mph away from towns.
The Federal Railroad Administration can set the speed limit of trains. Federal regulations pre-empt the state from setting speed limits except where unique local safety conditions exist.
Ernie Ringgold, Norfolk Southern train engineer and regional Operation Lifesaver safety expert for eight southern states, is alerting business, industry, rescue, schools, civic organizations and fire and law enforcement agencies throughout eastern North Carolina about train safety involving the deadly results between vehicles and pedestrians.
“If there is a train derailment, it could cripple any town. It could cut the town in half. Rescue vehicles and law enforcement could not conduct duties,” Ringgold said.
Wednesday afternoon, he made one of several return engagements to Weyerhaeuser, where he told a group of plant supervisors about train safety.
Supervisors heard slower trains are not necessarily safer.
“Statistics show that trains running at higher speeds are safer than trains running at lower speeds,” Ringgold said. “One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that vehicle drivers at grade crossings think they can beat the train if it seems to be running slowly. Sadly, this is not the case.
“Crossing in front of an on-coming train is always dangerous. Many people have lost their lives or been injured as a result.”
Data also show 90 percent of railroad fatalities are motorists at grade crossings or people who have trespassed on railroad property, he said.
Ringgold said train traffic is expected to increase, but safety measures are on the rise as well. He said motorists soon would see double gates on each side of crossings as well as cameras.
“The camera system is not in the east yet, but the technology is headed our way,” he said. “The camera takes a good picture of the person who drives around the gate.”
Such a violation costs three points against vehicle insurance, he said.
Ringgold said Salisbury has the camera system installed and gate runners have decreased by 75 percent.
Ringgold, a New Bern native, has been a train engineer since the early 1970s, making the run from Raleigh to the Morehead City countless times.
“I have seen my share of collisions,” he said.
He said statistics show 50 percent of train-vehicle collisions occur at lighted crossings. He said the N.C. Department of Transportation decides what signals will be in place at each crossing and the railroad company maintains them.
“Trains can stop, but not quickly,” he said.
He said a train traveling at 55 mph hauling 100 cars of freight takes 5,280 feet to stop. “That’s 18 football fields,” he said.
Ringgold said the state has the 16th highest number of train-vehicle collisions and ranks sixth in train-pedestrian collisions.
“I don’t want to reduce collisions, I want to eliminate them,” Ringgold said.