Illinois officials pledged Thursday to step up traffic enforcement at railroad crossings and enhance public safety campaigns in exchange for the federal government scrapping a proposed law that would effectively require the sounding of train horns at 899 crossings that are now whistle-free.
The overture to Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris, issued in the wake of four public hearings in the Chicago area in which hundreds of residents opposed regulations that they called disruptive and unnecessary, came during a meeting in Washington with four members of Illinois’ congressional delegation led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
Molitoris agreed to review the proposal to maintain existing quiet zones, although she made no promises, citing statistics showing Illinois had 54 railroad crossing deaths last year, more than any other state.
“We gave credit to Illinois for some of the areas in which progress has been made, but the problem in the Chicago area–being the nation’s railroad hub–is still very serious,” Molitoris said after the meeting.
The lawmakers disagreed with the assessment and maintained that the blasting of train horns, while disrupting the daily routines of 1.6 million residents in the Chicago region alone, would not save additional lives. They provided Molitoris with their own statistics showing a 65 percent reduction in railroad-crossing deaths in northeastern Illinois since 1989, and 52 percent fewer collisions, while train and vehicular traffic increased 45 percent.
“We’re the last people who want to see safety compromised,” said U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), whose west suburban district covering parts of Cook and DuPage Counties would be affected the most by the pending train whistle rule. “But the constant blasting of train whistles threatens to ruin the quality of life for my constituents, myself included.”
Hastert, Biggert, Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) offered Molitoris a compromise plan that would maintain existing quiet zones at rail crossings outfitted with warning lights, at least two crossing gates and have had no more than two accidents in the last five years.
Crossings not protected by gates and lights, uncommon in northeastern Illinois, must have been accident free over the five-year period, according to the state’s proposal. Otherwise, municipalities and counties with jurisdiction over those locations will have 10 years to equip the crossings with two gates.
Under current rules, trains must sound their horns at only 53 of the 5,000 railroad crossings in Illinois that have signals.
The federal proposal does provide communities worried about train horns with another option. They could get around the whistle mandate by building median barriers, installing surveillance cameras monitored by police or erecting gates that close off all traffic lanes so that drivers cannot snake around the lowered barriers.
But such solutions are expensive. They can cost more than $100,000 per crossing, or up to $225 million in the Chicago region alone if all communities with whistle bans decided to go that route.
“Mayor (Richard) Daley is very upset over the costs. It would be devastating for any town and it’s a terrible option,” Durbin said.
As further incentive to setting aside the federal proposal in Illinois, Durbin is spearheading a drive to increase state funding on grade-crossing education and enforcement. The senator will host a meeting of lawmakers, federal railroad officials and local mayors in Chicago Saturday to enhance public awareness of the dangers of disobeying railroad signals.
“If we go about this in an aggressive way to create a model program in Illinois, and to let people know we mean business about enforcing the existing $500 fine for driving around lowered gates, then we can reduce the number of accidents and the deaths and injuries that result,” Durbin said.
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Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder said the lifting of the existing railroad quiet zones would result in 560 train whistles being sounded each day in her village of 75,000 residents. Mulder expressed hope that a compromise could be reached with the Federal Railroad Administration. However, Mulder said in response to her lobbying she received a “very discouraging” letter from Molitoris three weeks ago.
Lipinski, however, said after Thursday’s meeting that he thinks “there is going to be a modification in the original rules proposed, based on the good arguments we advanced.”
Molitoris said her agency has received more than 2,700 written comments on the proposed rule and that a decision to go ahead with the law or modify it will be made late this year or in early 2001. The new law would take effect one year after the rule-making is completed.