NY to Evaluate, Prioritize Dangerous Rail Crossings

After six people died at an at-grade rail crossing in Mount Pleasant in 2015, calls went up to deal with New York State's 5,304 rail grade crossings.

One of the most vociferous was New Castle, where officials immediately called for a railway and parkway overpass on Roaring Brook Road where it intersects the Harlem Line and the Saw Mill River Parkway.

Now the state plans a comprehensive review of all its at grade crossings, evaluating and prioritizing the most dangerous ones and exploring new safety measures. The bill was signed into law Monday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The legislation will give New York State the ability to provide a proper and professional evaluation on where the faulty rail lines are and how much it would cost to fix them, said State Sen. David Carlucci (D Rockland-Westchester), who sponsored the bill in the Senate.

It also calls for creating safe processes at all highway-rail crossings in the State, as well as a review of the adequacy of traffic and pedestrian warning signals.

“There is a dire need to improve the rail infrastructure in our State,” Carlucci said in a written statement. “As our rail infrastructure continues to crumble, we’ve seen an increase in rail accidents, some of which have been right in our backyard. We need to seriously examine why the number of crossing accidents has increased in New York, and what we can do to fix them as soon as possible. Lives depend on it.”

The deadliest crash in Metro North Railroad’s history took place at an at-grade crossing in Mount Pleasant in 2015.

At 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3, a packed commuter train smashed into a Jeep Cherokee that had driven into its path. As the train pushed the SUV about 500 feet down the track a broken segment of the electrified third rail sliced up through the first train car, which burst into flames.

Three of the six dead had ties to New Castle and within two weeks that town government had begun asking for an overpass to be built at their grade crossing.

A month later, Cuomo touted eliminating seven grade-crossings on the Long Island Railroad as part of a massive project to expand the LIRR.

Under this new legislation, New York will evaluate all 5,304 grade crossings, including commuter, long-distance passenger and freight lines. The state will also examine:

• The safety of level-grade crossings and the feasibility of implementing design changes to increase safety and to reduce the likelihood of obstructions
• The adequacy of traffic and pedestrian warning signals
• Any federal funding available for safety improvement projects;
• The feasibility of equipping commuter trains with technology to increase safety
• Which level grade rail crossings are considered to be the most dangerous throughout the state

Meanwhile New Castle continues to pursue its plan for a bridge over the tracks that would also eliminate the traffic light on the Saw Mill River Parkway at Roaring Brook Road.

"Based on the vehicular traffic counts, proximity to high school and ability to solve 2 problems - eliminate grade crossing & traffic light on Saw Mill River Parkway - this grade crossing has already been recognized as a top priority," said town Supervisor Rob Greenstein.

Last week, the town's engineering consultants made a presentation to the Town Board which included potential traffic flow improvements at the intersection including a traffic analysis and preliminary layout and circulation designs for a bridge.

The 440-foot long bridge would cost about $50 million, according to a report of the presentation in the Examiner.

"No doubt, a bridge would be the best traffic & safety improvement - by far!" Greenstein said in a report to residents. "We are looking to have The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) support this, get it back on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) list, obtain funding from the Federal Transportation Authority, Metro North, Federal Highway Administration Money, NYS DOT, etc."

SEE ALSO

• New Castle Asks for Overpass at Roaring Brook Grade Crossing
• Harlem Line Tragedy: Safety Systems at Crossing Were Working, Investigators Say
• Grants for Metro-North Grade Crossings in Mount Pleasant, Chappaqua, More
• Cuomo: Grade Crossings 'Just Accidents Waiting to Happen'
• MTA Launches Grade Crossing Safety Campaign
• Roaring Brook Road to Close Again for Improvements to Grade Crossing this Weekend
• School Bus Trapped in Metro North Crossing, Driver Arrested

Image via GoogleMaps