Four train-related fatalities in five weeks is more than enough.
With that shared conviction, the Bartholomew County commissioners and German Township trustee Chris West are vowing to do whatever is in their power to improve safety at railroad crossings in their shared jurisdictions.
In reality, neither township nor county government has the authority to order safety improvements at train crossings, which are owned and maintained by railroad companies, West said.
But commissioners chairman Larry Kleinhenz said local government can seek funding and initiate efforts, which is what both he and West say they intend to do.
“If there is anything I can do to save lives, I will,” West said.
Kleinhenz and West said they are worried that more accidents will occur with the arrival of longer, faster and heavier CSX trains in Bartholomew County during the coming months.
The first big push for improved safety at railroad crossings in the Edinburgh area came after Sharon Gobin, 74, was killed Nov. 6 of last year while crossing railroad tracks on East Main Cross Street as a train was approaching.
Edinburgh Town Manager Wade Watson said at the time that installing more warning signals, including safety gates that block traffic from crossing when a train is approaching, isn’t an option for Edinburgh because of the costs, which he estimated at $1.5 million.
However, the town of Edinburgh did join with other local units of government in seeking grants that could help pay for long-term upgrades.
After receiving such a grant, Kleinhenz said an agreement was signed last summer to provide $400,000 worth of safety improvements to a crossing along County Road 800N, where Edinburgh High School senior Jeffrey A. Morton was killed in 2005 during a car/train collision.
But then, tragedy struck twice in the Edinburgh and Taylorsville area this fall.
On Oct. 8, Joshua L. Kelso, 30, of Cloverdale and Justice M. Llewellyn, 20, of Franklin were killed when their SUV was hit by a train on County Road 900 North, west of U.S. 31.
Five weeks later, two Columbus residents — Matthew K. Newland, 18, and Carmyn M. Elkins, 17 — died Nov. 16 after their car turned into the path of an oncoming train at U.S. 31 and West County Road 550N.
Although West said these four deaths warrant action to make crossings safer, at least three other accidents involving trains at crossings have occurred over the past year, including one where a dump truck and locomotive collided.
During the last week’s county commissioners meeting, Kleinhenz asked whether safety measures approved for the 800N crossing could be duplicated along 550N, where the latest fatality occurred.
County highway engineer Danny Hollander replied that the 800N crossing may have chosen because it stretches across both Bartholomew and Decatur counties, while 550N extends only from south of Taylorsville to southwest of Hope.
The commissioners then authorized Hollander to begin seeking funds through the federal Railway-Highway Crossings program, established to reduce the crash risk of the most hazardous public highway rail crossings in Indiana.
While these grants once paid 100 percent of costs directly to the railroads, a county highway department or the railroad is now required to pay 10 percent in matching funds before a grant is made, according to the INDOT website.
Grant monies are typically used to install train-activated warning bells, flashing lights, overhead cantilevers, gates and constant warning time circuitry at highway rail crossings on the state and local highway system, the website stated.
In complying with the commissioners’ wishes, Hollander said he anticipates working with INDOT grant administrator Kathy L. Eaton-McKalip.
Meanwhile, West has received detailed information complied by Hollander about the 10 rural railroad crossings in German Township. Although the trustee said he was willing to use township funds to pay a portion of those matching funds, it has not yet been determined if that type of expense by a township is allowed under Indiana law.
Of course, there are no guarantees that railroad companies will allow improvements at any of their crossings, or that the state will approve Railway-Highway Crossing grants to Bartholomew County, West said.
“The railroad will remind you that it’s not a matter of their train crossing our road,” said West, echoing a statement made earlier by Kleinhenz. “They’ll tell you it’s a matter of our road that crosses their tracks.”
But when county officials eventually make their case to the railroad companies, they will have some sobering statistics to share.
A dozen people died and another 47 were injured in 101 railroad crossing collisions in 2017, ranking the state sixth in the nation in volume of these accidents.
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Grants from the Railway-Highway Crossings program can help pay for safety improvements at highway rail crossings on the state and local highway system.
Rail crossing upgrades usually fall into two categories:
- With existing passive protection (such as cross bucks and/or stop signs) at the crossing, a safety project would install train-activated warning devices. Usually, warning bells, flashing lights, overhead cantilevers with flashing lights, gates, and constant warning time are installed.
- With existing train-activated protection (such as flashing lights and/or gates), a safety project would upgrade the existing signal equipment, add four-quadrant gates, install an overhead cantilever with flashing lights, upgrade circuitry to add constant warning time, modernize adjacent highway traffic signals, add warning bells, add a median barrier (to prevent motorists from driving around lowered gates) or other enhancements to reduce crash risk at the highway rail crossing.
With the current level of federal funding for the state-administered program, there are roughly 20 Indiana railroad crossings upgraded through this program.
Source: Indiana Department of Transportation
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