Officials Mount Campaign to Warn of Train Dangers

In an effort to reduce the number of accidents along the main rail corridor in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, railroad companies and transportation officials have launched a safety program warning of the dangers posed by high-speed passenger and freight trains.

The effort, which was unveiled during a news conference Tuesday in Santa Ana, was prompted by a recent series of railroad accidents in San Diego County, Caltrans spokesman James L. Larsen said.

“There was a lot of them (accidents) in a short period of time,” Larsen said. “We are concerned and the communities are concerned.”

Called Operation Lifesaver, the program will include posters, public service announcements, bulk mailing and an army of railroad and transportation officials making speeches on the dangers of playing on railroad tracks or attempting to beat trains to railroad crossings. The effort is being headed by Sharon Greene, executive director of the Los Angeles-San Diego Rail Corridor Agency.

One of the posters shows a big locomotive crashing into a car with the inscription, “When it’s a tie at the railroad crossing . . . you lose!”

Although accidents involving trains, cars and pedestrians have been decreasing over the years, the trend reversed in 1989, officials said, mostly because of accidents involving new light rail systems that have begun operating, such as the line between Long Beach and Los Angeles.

Mike Martin, a spokesman for the Santa Fe Railway Co., said 34 pedestrians were killed and 63 people were injured by trains statewide in 1989. Another 44 motorists died and 100 more were injured in 244 accidents in California involving automobiles and trains.

Many of the accidents were the result of children playing on the tracks. Authorities say many children do not realize the dangers posed by the passenger and freight trains, which can take up to a mile to stop.

On Saturday, a man was fatally injured in Buena Park by an Amtrak train that clipped the construction lift he was working on near the tracks, knocking him 30 feet to the ground.

Last month, four people were killed in three separate train accidents along the tracks in San Diego County. In one case, two people were struck and killed instantly by an Amtrak train going almost 90 m.p.h. The victims were among a group of five people who had gathered at the tracks to talk and drink beer.