SENATE MEMORIAL 27

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Pete Campos

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING A STUDY OF THE SAFETY OF NEW MEXICO RAILROAD CROSSINGS, ESPECIALLY AS TRAIN TRAVEL EXPANDS THROUGH THE CENTER OF THE STATE.

     WHEREAS, the history of the railroad is closely intertwined with the history of New Mexico as a state; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has long been a state traversed by rail for freight and passengers and, as of this year, for commuters; and

     WHEREAS, in 2005, the state of New Mexico bought all of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail lines between Belen and Trinidad, Colorado, while maintaining freight easements on the line for payments, including forty-five million dollars ($45,000,000) in cash; and

     WHEREAS, this legislature has heard proposals to extend the Railrunner commuter line southward to Las Cruces; and

     WHEREAS, it is likely that passenger travel will continue to increase along the Rio Grande corridor with improved train service, and ridership has already topped one million in the short time the Railrunner service has been open; and

     WHEREAS, increasing the miles of tracks throughout this state will increase the numbers of train crossings, known as "grade crossings", in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, there were eight fatalities on railroad crossings in the state in 2007, according to the federal railroad administration, and a total of fourteen collisions involving trains; and

     WHEREAS, the nation's estimated two hundred forty thousand grade crossings are the most likely sites for train fatalities; and

     WHEREAS, nationally, approximately five hundred persons die each year while trespassing on railroad rights of way; and     WHEREAS, more than ninety-eight percent of train fatalities in New Mexico on the Union Pacific railroad in 2006 involved either highway-rail grade crossing incidents or trespassing on the railroad tracks; and

     WHEREAS, the rates of train collisions increased by thirty-one percent between the years 1995 and 2005; and

     WHEREAS, the department of transportation has stepped up safety efforts with the extension of the Railrunner commuter train from Belen to Santa Fe; and

     WHEREAS, the mid-region council of governments has been making concerted efforts to close crossings on private lands and to improve safety signals on public crossings involving Railrunner routes; and  

     WHEREAS, in the ten-year period between 1995 and 2005, collisions at grade crossings were reduced through safety efforts of the federal railroad administration, but in 2007, the number of fatalities jumped by seven percent; and

     WHEREAS, the federal railroad administration recommends addressing sight obstructions at all grade crossings that do not have automated warning devices; and

     WHEREAS, current federal railroad administration regulations require railroads only to address vegetation growth at public crossings, and only to the extent that the vegetation reduces the visibility of road signs and signals; and

     WHEREAS, only thirteen states have laws or rules addressing the full range of sight obstructions, including equipment and topography; and

     WHEREAS, immediate safety benefits could be achieved if laws mandate clear line-of-sight distances of one thousand five hundred feet for crossings without automated warning devices; and

     WHEREAS, while train travel is demonstrably safer for riders than driving a car is for a driver, train travel threatens the lives of pedestrians, drivers and animals near train tracks or while crossing them; and

     WHEREAS, trains also endanger lives when they carry hazardous materials and are involved in accidents; and

     WHEREAS, between the years 2003 and 2006, there were one hundred forty-five rail incidents involving hazardous materials that resulted in nineteen fatalities and four hundred twenty-three injuries, and these incidents forced the evacuation of seventeen thousand three hundred eighty-four persons from their homes and businesses;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of transportation be requested to convene a working group of persons representing all major railways operating in New Mexico, including Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific, as well as the mid-region council of governments, that plans for and operates the Railrunner and that also includes representatives of county governments that are along routes proposed for inclusion in a commuter train service from southern to northern New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group establish minimum standards for safe grade crossings throughout the state and report on problems with implementing such standards; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that members of the working group and department of transportation staff report to an appropriate interim legislative committee prior to the second session of the forty-ninth legislature in January 2010; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the co-chairs of the New Mexico legislative council, the secretary of transportation, the executive director of the mid-region council of governments and the directors of each railway operating within the boundaries of the state of New Mexico.

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