(The following Associated Press article was published in the January 8 issue of Newsday.)
VICTOR, N.Y. — Warning to snowmobilers: Riding the rails can get you fined, if not killed.
Don Brown, vice president and general manager of Ontario Central Railroad, says that’s the message he and the police want to drive home as snow-covered tracks offer a tempting route.
Brown has posted nearly 50 signs that say either “NO TRESPASSING” or “NO ATVs, CYCLES or SNOWMOBILES” along the 13 miles of Ontario Central tracks near Rochester. Freight trains make several round trips a week, sometimes two in a day.
“People are obviously risking their own lives” as well as others’ by trespassing on the tracks, Brown said. He noted the Christmas Day death of 22-year-old Justin Ordon after an Amtrak passenger train hit his snowmobile in Wilton, north of Albany.
“We’ve got the police out,” Brown said, to make sure that doesn’t happen here.
According to Victor Town Justice Edward Lyng, those charged with trespassing on the railroad can be fined up to $300 and/or go to jail for up to 90 days.
Brown said recreational vehicles also can imperil others by damaging tracks. Snowmobiles can snag and break wires in the grade crossing system, he said, causing false warnings to motorists.
Nine years ago, a train derailed in Wayne County because snowmobiles had packed snow onto the tracks. It then turned to ice and caused the train to flip off the tracks, injuring the crew.