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Is This Any Way To Keep Rail Crossing Records?

Posted Jul 24, 2007 by Billy Townsend

Updated Jul 24, 2007 at 02:13 PM

Apropos of my recent crossing posts, I’ve done a little more research.

The federal records for crossings, known as the “crossing inventory,” show that at least four of the busiest crossings in Lakeland - Airport Road, Wabash Avenue, Florida Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue - either currently have constant warning time capability or had it at one time. (The Massachusetts crossing is supposed to have had it in 1997. But since then, its “type of train detection” is labeled as: “none.”)

Observation, CSX and the federal official looking into a Lakeland quiet zone say none of these crossings have constant warning time now. Constant warning time means that a slow freight train and a fast passenger train on the same line trigger the same warning time before they reach a crossing. It cuts down on needless delays that studies have shown can spur reckless driver behavior, such as driving around crossing gates.

The Federal Rail Administration is careful to point out that the records are often wrong and that it relies on local or state officials to update them.

But that leaves me with lots of questions I hope to explore in the coming days. First, constant warning time is a specific safety upgrade over the various train proximity sensors currently in use on Wabash and Airport. Someone at some time wrote into some form that these crossings have constant warning. Who was that? Did he or she work for the state or the city or the county? Why would this person think these crossings had or have constant warning? Was someone paid for work that didn’t get done? Are these systemic errors? And what use are these records if they can’t be relied upon?

Update: 2:10 p.m.: With a little help from Warren Flatau with the Federal Rail Administration, I now know where to look on the record for what organization submitted it. In the cases discussed above, CSX submitted three of the records, and the state submitted one. That leads to more questions, because it was CSX that told me last week none of the crossings in question had constant warning.

Further, these records are submitted voluntarily. There’s no penalty for submitting inaccurate records or not submitting them at all, Flatau said. The FRA is pursuing federal legislation that would require a record submission, he said.