From: tssmith@netcom.com (Tim Smith)
Subject: Grade crossings, etc. (was Re: Deaths on Railroad Prop...)
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 06:47:46 GMT

In article <1992Dec27.042134.28739@cbnews.cb.att.com> memanuel@cbnews.cb.att.com (mark.emanuele) writes:
> In the town of Hazlet, NJ the North Jersey Coast line has a station.
> 3/4 mile past the station is a grade crossing. This crossing is
> activated while the train is coming into the station. Train sits in
> the station for 3-4 minutes to load/unload. Grade crossing has gates
> down for 3-4 minutes with no train in sight. Cars start to go around
> gates thinking gates are malfunctioning (local kids used to take
> jumper cables and short the track circuit to activate gates) Train
> comes and just misses car.
 
> This seems like a situation that could be corrected by NJ Transit
> easily, however when I contacted them, they looked at me like I had
> three heads.
 
> Am I nuts, or is there a simple way for them to correct this VERY
> dangerous situation. (It happens at least daily).  Oh, BTW the
> station is barely visible from the crossing (Bethany Rd.)

There is an interesting situation on the CalTrain commuter line on
the SF Peninsula.  Just a hundred yards or so north of the San Mateo
station there is a grade crossing guarded by gates.  When a
northbound train stops at the station, the gates go back up to let
traffic through.  When the train gives its two-toot highball, a sound
sensor near the gates lowers them again.  All this even though there
is little traffic on the cross street, and a station stop rarely
takes more than 45 seconds.  Maybe it's a remnant of an old SP
experiment.

On the other hand, there is a grade crossing (25th Ave.) about 1/3
mile south of the next station down the line (Hayward Park), where
the gates seem to get activated by trains before they stop at the
station, and don't go up again, so you can wait 2 minutes or more
with the gates down before the southbound train comes through.  No
sound sensor here, and it makes sense.  Trains are usually going
around 50 mph when they reach the 25th Ave. crossing, and if the
sensor failed there could be a major accident.  But in the northbound
case, the train is just starting.

I'm often on my bicycle when crossing the tracks at 25th Ave., and
could easily go around the gates.  You can see up and down the track
at least a quarter mile in each direction, so this wouldn't be
unsafe.  But it's my habit never to let a train go by unwatched, even
a CalTrain, so I usually wait.

One day traffic was backed up at this crossing, and one fellow just
sat in his car right on the tracks.  I pulled up next to him and
reminded him that he could lose his car if a train came by, and he
said "Naw, they don't run trains around here any more."  (CalTrain
and SP have 62 scheduled runs a day on that two-track line.)  I thought
he was just brushing me off, or pulling my leg, but it turned out he
was quite serious.

Incredible as it might seem to us, lots of people out there just
don't notice trains at all.  Have you ever been on a steam excursion,
and watched peoples' reaction to the train?  While many will come out
and wait patiently to get a look at the train (and they're not all
railfans), many more just ignore the engine and train completely.  To
them, it probably looks just the same as the last train they saw.

--Tim (tssmith@netcom.com)