Danger in Calling Some Grade Crossing Hotlines

[K. P. Harrier]

It was strangely mysterious, but it felt good to make a rash of calls to just one railroad to report weirdly defective crossing devices … until it dawned on this person I may have been unwittingly interfering with some kind of quiet labor antagonism.

[Anonymous]

I made just one call on a saturday where the crossing gates were broken in such a manner that they present a danger to life and property when the next train passes. It was repaired within 24 hours and they had people checking it all week after.

I dont plan on making any more calls any time soon. But it was very good to see the railroad actually cared enough to come out on a weekend to fix the darn thing.

[Anonymous]

HighIron: Of course the railroad cared. They aren't insane. I'm surprised it took 24 hours to appear, unless it was on one-train-a-day line. Or maybe they appeared immediately, didn't have the necessary parts, and had to wait until they could be delivered.

Any time a grade crossing signal is called in as malfunctioned, it's immediately a problem. All trains must flag that crossing until the protection is repaired, or until it's verified that the protection is working. That kind of problem can just kill fluidity on a busy main line. On my railroad, when a grade-crossing signal is called in on a main line, the maintainer is called immediately, regardless of time of day or day of week, or if he has to come from 200 miles away in a snowstorm. On a branch line, we might wait until morning, because we'll have no trains in the meantime.

I consider it a public responsibility to call in if you observe a signal malfunctioning, or vandalism, or trespassing. Otherwise, it's indifference to human life. And if someone saw you do nothing, and knew that you knew the consequences and the remedy, and injury occurred, you could easily end up being named in a lawsuit. It probably wouldn't succeed, but do you really want to take that chance?

OS

[JoeKoh]

I am always on the lookout for rr crossing problems when I am out and about. have both csx and ns #s in my vehicles.
stay safe
Joe

[88gta350]

I called one in to NS one night last week, on a branch line. They were there within an hour.

[Justicar]

O.S., you may consider it a public responsibility but the law hardly agrees. Since when are civilians liable for accidents on railroads due to their being unwilling or unable to report it soon enough? The Good Samaritan law protects me from liability if you choke on a nice big piece of steak and I go over and try to save your life and you suffer from my help, does it not?

[MP57313]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ventrue
[Since when are civilians liable for accidents on railroads due to their being unwilling or unable to report it soon enough?

Whoa...too strong...civilians are not liable. I believe O.S. meant it more as a sign of good citizenship to call in problems if you are aware of them.

[Anonymous]

Ventrue, either you're agreeing with me, or you're adding words to my post that I didn't say, but for the life of me I can't tell which it is by the way you worded your post.

The Good Samaritan law is irrelevant to the case at hand. It protects you from civil liability (not criminal) for trying to help, not from not trying to help. (Usually it excepts you if you are a licensed professional in that field. For example, if you're a physician, and you see someone have a heart attack, you try and help, and he dies anyway, you can be sued and the Good Samaritan law won't protect you. The plaintiff would still have to prove negligence, however. )

All I wondered is why someone who works for a railroad or is familiar with them, who sees a dangerous condition such as a malfunctioning grade-crossing signal, would ever even think of not reporting it immediately, whether they were on-duty or off, or worked for a different railroad. I keep hoping that Kitty Genovese was a fluke, but maybe I should just start being a cynic.

OS

[tree68]

I call in malfunctioning traffic signals, too. With those there is no gate to make the drivers think twice, and the motoring public has proven far too many times that, contrary to railroad practice, they consider a malfunctioning signal as the least restrictive aspect (in other words, blow through at speed). During the last couple of widespread power outage, some of the reports I heard of near misses would curl your hair.

I came up on a crossing with the gates down and no trains in sight a while back. Called it in to CSX, and once I got the road straight in my own mind (good thing I carry a map of that line), found out they already knew.

What got me was the "I don't care" attitute of law enforcement - traffic was backed up a mile or more in each direction as people took turns checking for a train and driving around the gates. Not being in my own FD territory, a sworn peace officer, or a RR employee, I didn't stop and direct traffic.

[Train Guy 3]

I started calling about a defective pedestrain bell 5 years ago. I've made 9 calls over that 5 years and it's still rings when it shouldn't. Poeple don't trust it so the bell is an inefective safety device.

[UPTRAIN]

Well...at my crossing in Ash Hill, Missouri in February 2001, we had a really bad sag in the north rail. The ties were so bad under the crossing and just east of the crossing. It was caused from a mud boil and were really rotten. It was so bad that the rail was dipping about the entire height of the rail. When a train passed, the rail would dip and the train would tip, acting like they would fall over. One time I watched as a coal train went across and the rail fell about a foot and a half, I think the conductor was a little pissed about the huge mark through his paperwork. So I called UP at Dexter, MO. They called me back at about 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning, I had called them Saturday about 7 and left a message. A crew of about 8 men were on the scene at 2:00 p.m. on that Tuesday. They told me that crews were pretty fed up with that spot. When they cleared out to let a train by at 10 mph, we watched as the tops of autoracks leaned about 3 feet, not a pretty sight! One of the workers told me that "We'll be out here till midnight because of you!" (jokingly). I replied, "Well, wouldn't you rather replace 8 or 9 ties, rather than 500 feet of TRACK when you have a DERAILMENT?" He said, "Good point, I guess not!", he laughed. It took them about a day to complete and thanked me for calling it in, they said it was probably the first time they got sent to a site by an 11 year old, lol!

[Junctionfan]

CN is really good for this. They really like it when people call them and look out for things like railroad crossing problems particularly with the Kingston and Dundas Subdivision where there own trains go 60mph and VIA trains go 90 to 100+mph; safety is a priority on their lines at least in terms of avoiding delays.