(The following story by Diane Wetzel appeared on The North Platte Telegraph website on June 12, 2010.)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Union Pacific Railroad’s North Platte Service unit has gone more than 200 days without a railroad crossing collision.
“We want to thank the thousands of drivers who have obeyed warning devices at grade crossings in our area,” said Chad Wilbourne, general superintendent at the North Platte Service Unit in a press release this week. “We hope everyone continues to drive safely when they approach railroad crossings.”
The North Platte Service unit encompasses most of the 1.067 miles of track the U.P. operates in Nebraska.
“I also want to thank the employees who report unsafe driver behavior at grade crossings,” Wilbourne said. “They help us determine where drivers need to be reminded of railroad crossing laws.”
Law enforcement representatives from the U.P Railroad Police and the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office recently teamed up to remind motorists of highway-railroad crossing laws as part of a program called Union Pacific’s Crossing Accident Reduction Education, said Mark Davis, spokesman for the U.P. “UP CARES” is part of the Operation Lifesaver program, where police ride on trains to observe motorist behavior at crossings, Davis said. Operation Lifesaver is a national safety program supported by state and federal agencies railroads and railroad labor to educate on the dangers of highway-railroad crossings.
In 2009, there were 41 highway-railroad crossing collisions in the state, resulting in nine fatalities and 18 injuries compared to 48 collisions resulting in two deaths and 20 injuries in 2008. According to Davis, these figures include all Nebraska railroads and public and private crossing collisions.
The Kearney area was selected by UP CARES task force because of reports from U.P. employees and local officials of motorists failing to obey warning devices at crossings, Davis said. No citations were issued for highway-railroad crossing violations.