A new regulation requires all trains to use reflective material such as the stripe along the bottom of this Norfolk Southern engine to make them more visible to cars and reduce the number of crossing collisions. Special

Rail cars to get reflective tape

It might not have helped prevent the deadly Jan. 6 train crash in Graniteville, but a new safety requirement of the Federal Railroad Administration is employing glow-in-the-dark tape to reduce the number of train-car collisions at crossings.

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The rule, which becomes effective in March, will mandate that rail companies place reflective material on all locomotives and rail cars so that they are more visible to cars that cross the tracks.

Steve Kulm, a spokesman for the administration, said about 25 percent of crossing collisions occur when a vehicle strikes a train, many times because the motorist cannot see the speeding train until it's too late.

"Our economic analysis shows that once this is fully in effect, up to 100 accidents per year can be avoided," he said.

Mr. Kulm said there are about 1.3 million rail cars and 40,000 locomotives operating across the country, so companies will have five years to illuminate the rail cars and a full decade to take care of the locomotives.

For Augusta's two railroads, compliance will mean a hefty yet doable amount of work.

For the past 18 months, CSX workers have been adding reflective tape to trains undergoing repairs at one of the company's 23 shops, railroad spokesman Gary Sease said.

And, he said, all new locomotives have the reflective tape.

The challenge will be to equip all 4,000 locomotives and 82,000 freight cars.

"We're designing a plan to ensure all of those units get reflective tape when they come in for overhaul," he said. "We will comply fully."

Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay said the company has been putting reflective tape on the sides of its traveling locomotives for years.

It still needs to put tape on the locomotives that are inside its rail yards. Also, she said, the freight cars will need reflective material.

"That is something we don't do," Ms. Terpay said. "But we will comply with them in the time frame given."

Since 1994, the number of train-car accidents at crossings has dropped more than 40 percent, with 2003 seeing a record low.

Mr. Kulm said that a decade ago the administration began a safety action plan that included increasing the number of warning devices such as flashing lights and gates at crossings, which might account for the decrease in these collisions.

Over the past 10 years, safety inspectors have removed tens of thousands of crossings and, as Mr. Kulm explains it, "the safest grade crossing is one that doesn't exist."

In the wake of the Graniteville train wreck, the administration also has issued a safety advisory to railroad companies asking them to strengthen procedures for monitoring manual switches. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that a misaligned switch might have been the culprit in that accident.

The two recommendations in the advisory are for crews who operate manual switches to report to the dispatcher when the switch has been restored to its normal position and for the conductor to complete and sign a Switch Position Awareness Form with detailed switch information.

"In general we believe that with these measures we will hopefully decrease this type of accident," Mr. Kulm said.

Railroads are not required to take these two steps, but Robin Chapman, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said the railroad is looking to amend its procedures to include them.

As for CSX, Mr. Sease said the company already has made adjustments so that train operators now must communicate their switch position to the operational center, where it is recorded electronically.

"It gives yet another check on the switch position," he said.

Reach Dena Levitz at (706) 823-3339 or dena.levitz@augustachronicle.com.

Special Section: Graniteville Train Wreck

On January 6, 2005, a Norfolk Southern Corp. freight train carrying chemicals hit a parked train near an Avondale Mills plant in Graniteville, South Carolina. The impact caused poisonous chlorine gas to leak from three of the moving train's cars. Nine people were killed and more than 5,000 people were evacuated from the site.

For complete coverage of the Graniteville train wreck, visit our special section.

--From the Thursday, January 27, 2005 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle