The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently told the U.S. House of Representatives that the nation’s railways need to eliminate railroad grade crossings due to an increase in crashes and fatalities.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, testified before a House subcommittee that 272 people were killed in crashes at grade crossings in 2022 and that the rate of such collisions has increased significantly over the past decade.
That rate has gone from 2.811 collisions per million train miles in 2013 to 3.758 per million train miles in 2022. In the last decade, the rate of grade crossing incidents increased by one incident per million train miles.
“This represents the overwhelming majority of rail fatalities in the United States,” Homendy said.
Laundry list of recurring safety issues
The NTSB has “a long history of investigating these kinds of preventable collisions at grade crossings,” and those investigations have identified numerous recurring safety issues, including:
- the need for grade separation at high-risk locations
- the need for improved signage and warnings for motorists at many crossings
- continuing safety issues from high vertical profile, or humped, crossings
- use of traffic queues at grade crossings, which can lead to vehicles getting trapped on tracks
- the need for adequate line of sight at both public and private grade crossings
- lack of advanced technology solutions to warn train operators and motorists of active railroad tracks in the area
- the need for improved data and reporting requirements for public and private highway-railroad grade crossings, and
- the need for increased participation in Operation Lifesaver, a program that educates road users about safely walking, rolling or driving near grade crossings.
However, Homendy pointed out that the “safest treatment for any grade crossing is its elimination. At grade crossings, trains have the right of way. Building an overpass or underpass and eliminating the shared space between trains and automobiles is the surest way to reduce the possibility of deadly interaction.”
Incidents at grade crossings can result in hazmat releases
Homendy also confirmed that crashes at grade crossings have led to hazardous material releases in the past, citing a 2013 crash in Rosedale, Maryland as an example.
The crash involved a freight train that struck a dump truck whose driver failed to ensure the tracks were clear before proceeding through the grade crossing.
The freight train, which was traveling at 49 mph, consisted of two locomotives, 31 empty cars, and 14 loaded cars. When the train struck the truck, 15 of the train’s cars derailed. Three of those derailed cars contained hazardous materials, which released, caught on fire and eventually exploded following the derailment. The chemicals involved were sodium chlorate crystal and terephthalic acid.
The truck driver was seriously injured in the collision. Three workers in a nearby building and a Maryland Transportation Authority police officer who responded received minor injuries as a result of the explosion.
