Railroad, city conduct crackdown on tracks.

Byline: Rebecca Taylor The Register-Guard

In 37 years with Union Pacific Railroad, train conductor Greg "Boomer" Boam has seen his share of chaos on the tracks.

He has witnessed 18 train-vs.-car collisions and eight accidents involving pedestrians or bicyclists, including a December 2004 accident that severed the legs of a 14-year-old South Eugene High School student.

The boy survived, and so does the horror of the accident.

"Each time we go over that stretch of track, it bubbles up those old memories," Boam said Wednesday as he and engineer Joel Ashcroft guided a train back and forth along tracks from the Northwest Expressway railyard to the Eugene Water & Electric Board headquarters in a "sting" targeting drivers and pedestrians who violate train crossing and trespassing rules.

During the daylong effort, city and railroad police issued 10 citations and 36 warnings to people trespassing on railroad property, a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of a year in jail and $6,250 fine. They issued 18 citations and eight warnings for failure to obey a railroad signal, a traffic violation that carries a $97 fine.

Union Pacific teams up with local police about twice a year for such efforts. The last sting in Eugene was in March. The railroad is planning similar operations in cities between here and Pendleton in coming days.

Claudia Howells, state coordinator for Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit educational program that aims to reduce train-related deaths and injuries, said that nationwide, one person dies each day at a railroad crossing and two others die as a result of trespassing on railroad property.

Many people are unaware that railyards and train tracks are private property, Union Pacific officials said. Oregon law specifically mentions railroad yards, tracks, bridges and rights of way in its definition of misdemeanor first-degree criminal trespassing.

On Wednesday, Eugene police officers Randy Sewell and Scott Dillon joined railroad police monitoring downtown crossings for the inevitable violators. Among the drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians who walked around lowered crossing arms or illegally crossed railroad tracks was former Eugene mayor and current owner of the Fifth Street Public Market, Brian Obie, who chatted on a cell phone as he crossed the tracks at High Street. Police were not present at the time, so he was not cited. But a newspaper photographer snapped several photographs of him crossing the tracks as the arms lowered and the train approached.

When reached later, Obie said that what he did was not illegal because he didn't "go around the barriers" and the barriers weren't down across the sidewalk. He later said the barriers might have been going down as he crossed.

Under Oregon law, a pedestrian commits a traffic violation if he "passes through, around, over or under any crossing gate or barrier at a bridge or railroad grade crossing while the gate or barrier is closed or being opened or closed."

People often try to beat the train by car and on foot, but it's a dangerous gamble, Boam said. A train travelling at 30 mph - the speed limit on tracks downtown - takes about a mile to bring to a stop.

Wednesday's event also was a chance for railroad officials to discuss the city's proposal to create a "quiet zone" at 10 crossings between Hilyard and Van Buren streets in downtown Eugene.

Federal law requires that locomotive horns be sounded 15 to 20 seconds before a railroad crossing, in a two long, one short, one long pattern.

But residents along the tracks have complained about the noise, and last year City Council directed staff members to study the possibility of limiting horn use in the area.

Trains passing through a designated quiet zone are not required to blow their horns unless conductors feel the need to do so. To qualify for federal approval, municipalities must improve train crossings to ensure public safety, either by installing special gates, building new medians and traffic-control devices, or limiting traffic to one direction.

Such upgrades can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Darryl Morrow, assistant grade crossing manager with the Federal Railroad Administration.

But cities can qualify for federal money by closing some of the crossings altogether - in Eugene's case five of the 10 crossings in question, city traffic engineer Tom Larsen has said.

Tim Nehrling, one of two Union Pacific public safety managers for nine western states, said proponents should be aware that the designation does not eliminate train noise, since conductors can still sound the horn at their discretion.

Recently retired Clint Holmes of Eugene was a train engineer for most of his 37-year railroad career. He said he never had any problems passing through quiet zones in cities such as Bend, The Dalles and Salem.

"If they get the road crossings protected adequately, they're a great deal," he said, adding that conductors aren't trying to disturb residents when they sound their horns - they're just following the rules.

But Boam, the conductor, said the enhanced crossings do little to stop people from ignoring the law.

"I've worked in areas that have quiet zones and people still violate crossing gates that are down and I still have to blow the horn," he said.