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Crashes Lead Federal Rail Inspectors To Check Central Florida Rail Crossings

Posted Aug 9, 2007 by Billy Townsend

Updated Aug 9, 2007 at 03:59 PM

In response to the recent fatal train collisions between Amtrak trains and vehicles at crossings in west Lakeland and Plant City, inspectors with the Federal Railroad Administration are leading an ongoing audit of every crossing maintained by CSX Transportation between Orlando and Tampa, a FRA spokesman said Thursday.

The review, known as a “focus inspection,” began July 30, said Steve Kulm, with the FRA.

Inspectors are checking to see if the flashing lights and gates are functioning correctly, if the crossings are generally in compliance with federal grade crossing regulations and if the information about them contained in federal records is correct.

Kulm said details of the findings would not be released until the inspection is complete. It’s not clear when that will be. Kulm estimated that “several hundred” crossings will be inspected.

But Kulm did say inspectors have found issues with the crossings and have reported them to CSX for correction. He would not say what those are. CSX representatives were not immediately available for comment. We’ll update when we reach someone.

Previous reporting by the Polk News Blog showed that several crossings, including the Wabash Avenue crossing where four young adults were killed July 16, were wrongly listed in the federal crossing inventory as having a feature known as “constant warning time.”

In that fatal crash, the driver of the doomed car drove around crossing gates and was struck by a fast-moving Amtrak train. In the aftermath of the crash, many residents of the area acknowledged driving around crossing gates to beat slow-moving freight trains, which also use that rail line and can take more than minute to reach a crossing after triggering the safety equipment. Constant warning time is a feature designed to eliminate such excessive delays, which federal studies say can correlate with reckless driver behavior. For more on this, see this story.The federal records are maintained voluntarily. There’s no penalty for inaccuracy. However, Fred Wise, the head of the rail office for Florida’s Department of Transportation, said last week the state takes them very seriously. And he said he’d like to know where the inaccuracies came from, because the state spends time and money to maintain them accurately. 

One state inspector is taking part in the review, said Gary Fitzpatrick, who works for Wise as the state’s administrator of rail operations.

Fitzpatrick also noted that FDOT and the Lakeland Police Department are planning a joint enforcement and information “blitz” around Lakeland-area rail crossings near the end of August. Lakeland police officers and state officials will stake out crossings to hand out information and encourage people to obey safety rules. The date isn’t yet final. In his capacity as rail operations administrator, Fitzpatrick also oversees Florida’s implementation of a nationwide rail safety program known as Operation Lifesaver. Here’s a link.