Bill would provide funding for railroad safety

GLENDALE — A bill is on its way to the U.S. Senate that would give the city $500,000 to improve safety at railroad crossings.

If approved by Congress and signed by the president, the bill will improve crossings at Broadway, Grandview and Sonora avenues. The money would go toward upgraded railroad circuits and warning devices and software that controls the crossing signs that signal to drivers that a train is coming, according to Rep. Adam Schiff, who represents Glendale and Burbank.

“I think we’ve seen along the San Fernando corridor we have a tremendous volume of train traffic and vehicular traffic and that situation is only going to get worse over time,” Schiff said. “And I think we should take steps now to try to improve the safety along that corridor. We’ve seen the tragic results of collisions between cars and the trains, and we want to do everything we can to prevent that in the future.”

Past car-train collisions in Glendale and Burbank have prompted local, state and federal officials to push for safety improvements.

The deadliest crash in Metrolink history occurred in January 2005, when a despondent man allegedly parked his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks at Chevy Chase Drive, causing the death of 11 passengers and injuring 200 more. The man, Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, is awaiting trial for murder.

On Jan. 6, 2003, 63-year-old Jacek W. Wysocki drove his flatbed truck around a crossing arm into the path of an oncoming train at Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Boulevard in Burbank.

The train derailed, killing Wysocki on impact and injuring dozens of passengers. One passenger, a 76-year-old Newhall woman, died after being hospitalized for two weeks.

Glendale resident Maureen Osborn, 76, died on Jan. 6, 2006, when a southbound train collided with her Toyota sedan at the at-grade crossing at Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Boulevard.

A Oct. 24, 2005, a train clipped the end of a trailer truck that was making a three-point turn at the Broadway crossing.

Safety advocates have cited the need for more visible warning signs and barriers to keep cars from crossing into the path of oncoming trains, among other measures.

“Those who deliberately drive on the tracks are going to be hard to stop,” Schiff said. “But there are a lot of people who don’t deliberately do that and can be deterred through more effective safety measures. This funding will help the city of Glendale put those in place.”