A summit Oct. 29 drew some 200 parties from railroads, suppliers, trade associations, government, safety advocacy groups and law enforcement for what FRA Administrator Ronald L. Batory called the “pre-game and kickoff” of an initiative to find new ways to address the chronic problem of people in vehicles and on foot being killed by trains.
Already the industry has made strides, Batory said. In the 1970s, 10,000 to 12,000 people died each year at some 200,000 grade crossings. Today there are some 100,000 crossings, and fatalities have dropped to some 1,500 each year.
“It’s still 1,500 too many, and they’re all preventable,” Batory said. On the other hand, trespassing at one time was hardly an issue, but today some 500 trespassers die annually. The total includes trespasser suicides, something that is getting greater attention among railroads and safety groups.
Crossing and trespasser safety traditionally have been guided by the “Three Es,” engineering, education, and enforcement. Batory added two more, evaluation and evolution.
“We need to inject more technology into each of the Es and make everything we do more robust, more dynamic and interactive, with risk elimination at the forefront,” Batory said. Technology is critical for the future, but he warned tech progress should not be stifled by overregulation.
“Technology will move faster than the ink can be applied or dried [on regulations],” Batory said. By trying to slow the pace of technology with regulation, “it will pass us up. Technology is our key to our future.”
Batory said the summit “reset the stage for determining the future by respecting the past.” What follows in 2019 will be listening sessions with each interest group, followed by a symposium “to discuss initiatives that warrant collaboration, and kick off a living agenda of thought-provoking tasks.
“We must not fear failure. It can only inhibit constructive and sustainable change,” Batory said. “Tomorrow is now. Time is money, but money does not buy safety. Safety never waits or sleeps. Safety is you and me. It is our responsibility and moral obligation to maintain it, and to make a safer world for us to live in.”
To Michael Metalas,
Are you kidding? Suicide by rail is a very infrequent means of suicide in the U.S. (less than 1% of total suicides). It is chosen because it is quick, easy, relatively painless, and sure. About the only thing that has been shown conclusively to stop suicides in general is means restrictions, which surely are grade separations and fencing. Of course, they will not be 100% effective, but if we are serious about reducing deaths (and delays) from rail suicide, we need to make it difficult to get to the tracks.
To R Messera
I couldn’t agree with you more. PTC is designed to save employee and passenger lives, primarily. Even if it successful in eliminating ALL those deaths (about 10 annually), it is a very small number compared to the deaths to the public from trespassing, suicide, and grade crossings. During Congressional hearings, there was no way PTC could be justified, no matter what Value of Prevented Fatality was used.
As for the public deaths, railroads need to be partners, but the onus should be on the Federal Government, not on railroads or local government, as it is today. The Section 130 program, from the Federal Government, spends about $250 million dollars annually to address less than 250 deaths annually. There are zero Federal dollars spent on the 850 people killed annually from trespassing and suicide. And don’t give me that excuse that trespassers and suicides deserve to die because they put themselves in harm’s way. Almost all crossing deaths (95%+) are due to driver and pedestrian mistakes, and yet we feel an obligation to improve safety measures for them..
It might help if there was a central location railfans could submit information and or photos on violators. It probably wouldn’t help immediate enforcement but could help pinpoint problem areas. I’ve emailed photos a couple times to our local railroad police but they are spread very thin.
Imagine if the money spent on PTC had been spent on grade crossing elimination, fencing in strategic areas and other safety measures how many more lives might have been saved each year.
Asking humans to not do dumb things (like walking along tracks jamming to your tunes) is like spitting into the wind. It would be nice if it worked.
Growing up I was taught to stay a few feet outside the rail when near tracks unless crossing. And if crossing, always look both ways. And if near train cars, always expect them to move with no notice. Pretty simple rules. For everyone. Employee. Pedestrian. Graffiti artist. Vandal. Hard to get hit if you are always outside the widest part of a car or engine. …
Suppliers will gladly sell more hardware and the government will be there to pay for it. But stupid wins out every time.
Mr. McFarlane: You must not get trackside very often because every boxcar, and now most autoracks have been vandalized. The fact is railroad equipment is being accessed and vandalized no matter where it is….all by the same trespassing mentioned in this article.
Based on your logic all prom pics, playing on the tracks, not heeding flashing lights and pulling up spikes are all excusable if one is on “public property or private NON-RAILROAD property.”
The bottom line is targeting one group of trespassers while giving another group of trespassers wide open access is a huge disconnect. Once again, every graffiti covered car sends the invitation that trespassing is welcomed. Such enticement must end if meaningful efforts to combat trespassing are successful.
Now, stand up to your wife….it might lessen some of the hostility you throw my way!
Someone’s trying to fix stupid again, I see
Jim Norton,
For the last time, stop with your blatant lies and do some research before posting BS(which you keep doing), most graffiti is done from public property or private NON-RAILROAD property, not on railroad right of way or is reachable by public property…you also can’t patrol all of the rail network 100% of the time, so you’ll never be able to eliminate graffiti(and graffiti on railcars has been around a lot longer than you think, just consider all the hobo handles that used to be chalked or painted on the sides of boxcars, that’s still graffiti).
The message sent by the nation’s entire fleet of vandalized boxcars is that trespassing is tolerated maybe even encouraged. Good luck.
In my town all of the rail related deaths for the past several years have been suicides from commuter platforms, something that grade separation and fences will not stop.