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Those in attendance at that meeting may have walked away with the
impression that no matter what, there were going to be railroad
crossings permanently closed in Logan County when high-speed rail
comes through.
However, in a meeting Friday morning at the Lincoln Park
District, Michael Garcia, bureau chief of IDOT, told the audience
there may have been a misperception. He drove home his point when he
said, "If you say no, then it is no."
In a meeting that lasted just over two hours, Garcia began by
introducing those who were in attendance and said that over the next
two hours they would talk about what lies ahead with work scheduled
to begin next month at Elkhart and continuing through Logan County.
"We do not want to build this behind black curtains," Garcia
said. "You're going to be here, we're going to be here, the trains
are going to be here. We want to talk about it."
Garcia said high-speed rail has actually been on the drawing
table in Illinois since 2003. He said IDOT thought they were nearly
ready five years ago but had a problem with an anti-collision
system, in that they couldn't make it work.
Now, there is a system design that they believe will work, and
they are in a good position to move forward.
Garcia said there were five grants applications for high-speed
rail funding. In the end the state received three.
The most importation of those grants was the $1.1 billion for
restructuring the current rail line from Alton to Chicago. A second
grant was awarded for work to be done with what Garcia referred to
as the spider web in Chicago.
A third grant application was filed seeking $3,000,000 for a
second rail line. The federal government turned down that request
but granted an alternative: $1.25 million for an environmental
impact study to determine the need for a second line and the effects
it will have on the communities it will pass through.
The $1.1 billion grant is broken down to include $570 million for
the track renewal system, $50 million for stations, $220 million
for locomotives and cars, $170 million for signals and crossings,
and $130 million classified as "other."
The federal grant comes with a 5 percent IDOT match requirement.
Garcia said that in the case of stations and parking, there may also
be a local match involved, but at this time there is no solid
information on how that might work.
Garcia said that when the grant was awarded it came with
conditions. He referred to these as the "you betters" and said the
first one was: "If we give you the money, you better build it."
The second was: "You better take care of it." Garcia said that
IDOT had made a 20-year promise to the federal government to take
care of the track and monitor the daily operations of the train
system. If they fail to do this, they will be required to give the
money back.
Another important part of the agreement involved the closure of
crossings. Garcia said that the grant terms specifically say that
local officials will have a say in this.
"A lot of people don't know that the Record of Decision, the
actual issuance of the Federal Railroad Administration, says: ‘DOT,
you will not close a single crossing without local approval,'"
Garcia said. "If you say no, it is no."
He added: "That is not to say that we won't approach you with the
option of a suitable negotiation to close or vacate a crossing and a
suitable reimbursement for allowing that."
The reason the closing of crossings is important with high-speed
rail is that from IDOT and ICC's perspective, the fewer
opportunities that vehicles have to come in contact with trains, the
better off the program will be.
When Michael Stead of the ICC spoke to the group, he drove home
the serious concerns that he has with safety and the need to educate
the public on what to expect when trains speeds increase from 79
miles per hour to 110 in rural areas.
Stead said that in the case of vehicle-versus-train accidents, 94
percent are due to driver error; in 25 percent of those accidents,
the vehicle hits the side of the train; and 75 percent of the time
these accidents happen during daylight hours.
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He said the ICC has an educational program ready to present to
any group or organization, and he'd like to see it particularly used
to inform young drivers.
He said that anyone who wants to know more about setting up an
educational meeting should contact Chip Pew at 312-636-3034 or
e-mail him at cpew@icc.illinois.gov.
The ICC and IDOT have several safety devices built into the new
rail system. The current program calls for drop-arm signals at all
crossings. These signals will block both lanes of traffic on both
sides of the track, hopefully stopping people from trying the
ever-dangerous "drive-around."
There is also a smart system involved with the crossings. For
whatever reason a crossing is blocked, the system will send an alarm
to the oncoming train, which will slow or stop if the crossing
remains obstructed.
There will also be crossing arms at all roads, including private
lanes and entrances into farmland.
The entrances into farmland will have gates that remain down at
all times unless they are opened with a key system by the farmer
needing entry.
When those gates are unlocked, they will remain open for a given
amount of time. During that time they will close when a train is
approaching and reopen when it has passed. Stead said that the
length of time the gates will remain unlocked is yet to be
determined, but once that time expires, the gates will close and
lock themselves.
Garcia said another important thing they are looking at is safety
for passengers boarding or exiting trains. If there are two tracks
with freight and Amtrak running through the area at the same
time, stations will include boarding platforms on both sides of the
track.
To assure safety, pedestrian overpasses or underpasses will be
built at the stations.
In other areas where pedestrian walkways intersect with tracks,
there will be drop-arm gates similar to those used on roadways.
Still on the list of safety measures is the addition of fencing
on both sides of the track in municipal areas.
The audience was told that an engineering consulting firm named
Road Safe has been hired and will be responsible for relaying
information daily to local agencies such as fire departments,
police, emergency services and schools.
That firm will notify parties of temporary crossing closures as
the track renewal train passes through the area and will provide
daily updates on the official Illinois High-Speed Rail website,
http://www.idothsr.org/.
___
Tomorrow, read new questions posed by local authorities
representing the correctional centers, emergency services and the
city of Lincoln.
[By NILA SMITH]
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