2 Train Crossings to Get Safety Upgrades

Two of Ventura County’s deadliest railroad crossings, including one involved last week in the crash of a dump truck and an Amtrak train, are set to receive gates, bells and lights as part of an ongoing campaign to improve safety at private, unguarded crossings.

Earlier this year, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) secured $494,000 in federal money for the upgrades, which are scheduled to be made next year. In the last 10 years, the private crossings, off Somis Road and Los Angeles Avenue north of Camarillo, have been the sites of six collisions that resulted in four deaths, according to transportation officials.

Public funds usually are unavailable to install gates and warning systems at private crossings, leaving it up to individual property owners to make the improvements. Legally, landowners are required only to put up stop signs at such crossings.

But after tracking the high number of accidents at the two crossings, the Ventura County Transportation Commission urged Gallegly to seek a special appropriation. The commission is working to have Union Pacific, which owns the tracks, handle the installation.

“We didn’t want to see anyone else killed or injured out there,” said Mary Travis, manager of rail programs for the transportation commission.

Last Friday’s crash occurred about 8:20 p.m. when a southbound Amtrak passenger train barreled into a large dump truck crossing the tracks near the rural community of Somis.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation. But according to the California Highway Patrol, the dump truck driver, Arturo Anaya, 35, of Tustin reportedly did not see the train approaching as he moved onto the tracks. The crossing is controlled by a stop sign and is posted with signs in English and Spanish warning drivers to “Stop, Look and Listen” for oncoming trains. The signs were posted last year at area crossings in response to a spate of fatal accidents.

Anaya and his wife, Maria, were hospitalized with serious injuries, according to the CHP. About 20 train passengers and crew members also went to local hospitals with minor to moderate injuries.

Four other collisions have occurred at that crossing in the last 10 years, including two fatal accidents that took place within five months in 2002.

Responding to similar issues nationwide, the Federal Railroad Administration launched a campaign more than a decade ago to improve safety at crossings across the country. To that end, the agency set a goal of closing a quarter of the nation’s 250,000 crossings. By the end of last year, more than 47,000 railroad crossings were no longer in use.

“In our estimation, the safest crossing is one that doesn’t exist,” said Steve Kulm, spokesman for the federal agency.

Such efforts have met with limited success in Ventura County. The county has 177 railroad crossings, 13 on private property. Of those, only one is being considered for closure, a private crossing in the same farm area near Somis where many of the accidents have occurred.

Travis said efforts are underway to restore an old bridge that crosses Long Canyon Creek. If that happens, fieldworkers who now come off Los Angeles Avenue to cross the tracks at a blind intersection will be able to take an alternate route and cross the tracks at a safer location. That would allow the blind crossing to be closed.

Travis said the transportation commission, train operators and others also plan to increase efforts to promote rail safety.

But she added that there aren’t enough gates, bells or warning signs to dissuade impatient motorists who think they can beat a train.

“We regularly have people drive around gates when they’re down,” Travis said. “Any time you mix vehicles and trains, it’s a potentially fatal combination.”