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They have 3,000 horsepower, weigh 270,000 pounds, thunder along at 60 mph and require one mile to stop. Oh, and they have no steering wheel. You would think people would keep clear of the 73 passenger trains that make 450 daily trips across 11 lines in Massachusetts. But they do not. Last year, 16 people died on Massachusetts railroad tracks, six more than in 1995. Locally, trains have killed five in two years, including a teen just last week in East Kingston, N.H. The statistics have become so grim, the MBTA is expanding its Operation Lifesaver train safety education program to schools in several “problem” communities, including Haverhill and Andover. Engineer James M. Lankford, 51, of Hudson, N.H., has been an engineer for 21 years. He regularly sees people walking aimlessly down the track, and cars darting through crossings, as the gate begins to drop. Last Wednesday, a reporter accompanied Mr. Lankford and his supervisor, trainmaster John Santa Maria, on the Haverhill to Boston run. The 63-minute trip provided ample evidence of what the rail men say: People will risk their lives to save a few seconds by sneaking past gates or taking a shortcut along a track - both of which are illegal and punishable by fines of $100. In Haverhill, two teenage boys duck under a closing gate at a railroad crossing. In Wilmington, a jogger ducks under a closing gate and continues on his way. At a dangerous Reading crossing that has no gates, a woman in a Chevy Cavalier is nearly crushed as she stops abruptly and perilously close to the train. And in Wakefield, a green Ford Bronco and a blue van race over the tracks, even though the activated gates are flashing and beginning to descend. More than half of train-vehicle accidents occur where there are flashing lights and gates. The results aren’t pretty. Trains outweigh cars 4,000 to 1; the equivalent of a automobile rolling over a 12-ounce can of soda. Mr. Santa Maria said, “If people ever saw the end result of a collision, they’d never risk it.” Truth is, people who duck under a gate save very little time, the train men said. “We trip a circuit a half mile from the crossing, then the gates come down a good 20 seconds before we get there,” said Mr. Lankford during the Haverhill to Boston run. “We clear a crossing in five seconds. The total amount of time people wait for us is 30 seconds.” The train’s main defenses are its flashing lights and shrill whistle. It takes an engineer one mile to halt a 115-ton train traveling at 60 mph. Throughout it all, Mr. Lankford must remain vigilant without overreacting. “There’s a lot of responsibility,” he said. “We have several hundred people on this trainn and they’re depending on me for a certain level of sanity. I try to operate the train as smoothly and safely as possible. I get a kick out of pulling into Boston and having people still asleep because they didn’t even know they were moving. Then I know I’ve done my job.” |
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