RAILROAD CROSSINGS ARE FAULTY CREWS WORK TO REPAIR MANY MALFUNCTIONS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Prodded by city officials, Union Pacific crews are working at railroad crossings to stop crossing arms from lowering when no train is approaching.

In 14 months of trying to stop the false activations, city officials say they have documented more than 30 instances, some of which last over an hour and resulted in motorists propping up the crossing arms to drive under them.

``It's one of the most serious public safety issues I've had to deal with in my career here,'' said Leon Swain, Palmdale's public works director. ``If people lose respect for these devices, ... they tend to do things that are very unsafe.''

The false activations were blamed on dirt and mud that has collected among the rocks, known as ballast, that support the railroad tracks. Especially when it is wet from rain, the mud conducts electricity that actuates the circuit operating the crossing arms.

At a meeting May 27 with Union Pacific and Federal Railroad Administration representatives, Swain said the federal railroad official warned he was considering imposing fines on the railroad if it did not begin working on a permanent solution. Federal officials did not return calls seeking comment last week.

Last week, Union Pacific crews were at work with a backhoe to dig into the ballast and clean it out around the crossing-arm actuators, a Union Pacific spokesman said.

``It's corrected, but long-term we have to get that ballast cleaned out and the mud cleaned out of it,'' railroad spokesman John Bromley said.

Swain said he and the railroad and government officials during the May 27 meeting inspected crossings. It was obvious to him that the Union Pacific ballast contained far more mud than the adjoining Metrolink tracks, Swain said.

City officials have been trying for more than a year to get the false activations stopped. The most recent was June 30, when a city worker reported that the Avenue S crossing arms went up and down for 30 minutes with no train in sight.

City employees have logged more than 30 such instances since April 2004, mostly at the Rancho Vista Boulevard railroad crossing. Swain said he believes many other instances were not reported to City Hall.

City officials also logged occasions where traffic was blocked by a train that was stopped or was working on a siding. On one occasion, the Sierra Highway crossing arms failed to descend as a train passed, the city log says.

The Union Pacific spokesman said people should report crossing-arm problems to a toll-free 24-hour hotline: [phone].