THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150323
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 143 lines
Norfolk Southern Corp., the nation's safest railroad, raised questions this week about the safety of the light rail line proposed by the Tidewater Transportation District Commission.
Of biggest concern, railroad executives said, is the possibility of accidents as commuter rail cars intersect streets.
TRT officials acknowledge that many issues need to be addressed and that safety is one of them.
Norfolk Southern's principal safety concern is the number of places that the rail line would cross roads at ``grade,'' or at the same ground level as the road.
The proposed light rail system between Norfolk and Virginia Beach would cross at least 48 public roads and private drives. It also would run down the middle of Plume Street in downtown Norfolk.
``Any time you have a railroad and you cross at grade, you're talking about inherent danger,'' said Steve Eisenach, director of Norfolk Southern's strategic planning department. ``And here you're talking about greater speed, greater frequency and at rush hour.''
Norfolk City Council voted unanimously this week to proceed with the light rail study. Virginia Beach delayed its vote for 30 days.
While railroad officials have participated on an advisory committee about light rail, the Norfolk-based railroad says many details need to be settled before it endorses the project.
Norfolk Southern's cooperation is vital for the light rail plan. The railroad owns and uses 15 1/2 miles of the proposed 18-mile line from downtown Norfolk to the Virginia Beach Pavilion, a few blocks short of the Oceanfront resort area.
Details about how or whether ownership of the line would be transferred - and how it would continue to serve its customers along the line - have not been discussed, railroad officials said. Tidewater Regional Transit would operate the light rail system.
Tuesday, the Virginia Beach City Council delayed a vote to proceed on the light rail proposal partly because of Norfolk Southern's concerns about not having had enough input.
The Transportation District Commission needs the city's endorsement to proceed with a more intensive study of the viability of light rail, which the board chose as the best way to handle the area's growing transportation needs.
Norfolk Southern only this week received a proposed letter of intent outlining the relationship between the railroad and TRT.
Norfolk Southern is reviewing the document and has yet to agree to it, spokesman Rob Chapman said Friday.
Currently, Norfolk Southern uses the line about once a day, traveling no faster than 10 miles per hour. TRT's light rail would travel up to 55 mph.
Grade crossing accidents are a big problem, so much so that the U.S. Transportation Department initiated a publicity campaign earlier this year to increase awareness of the dangers of grade crossings.
In 1994, 615 people died and 1,961 were injured nationwide in 4,979 grade crossing accidents, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Norfolk Southern considers grade crossings so dangerous that it pays communities to close them.
``One of our high priorities as a corporation is to close as many crossings as possible,'' said Harold ``Hal'' Mauney Jr., the railroad's vice president of quality management.
Mauney, who represented Norfolk Southern on the light rail advisory committee, said he outlined his safety concerns early on in the process but hasn't heard much discussion about it since.
TRT's light rail line would intersect some of the busiest roads in Hampton Roads. The streets read like a litany of Virginia Beach's main north-south arteries - Princess Anne Road, Witchduck Road, Rosemont Road, South Plaza Trail, Lynnhaven Road and Lynnhaven Parkway, First Colonial Road, Oceana Boulevard and Birdneck Road. In Norfolk, the rail line also crosses Brambleton Avenue, Ballentine Boulevard and Newtown Road.
The light rail proposal, as it now stands, calls for elevated track only at Independence Boulevard.
The proposed line also passes through several residential neighborhoods, including Norfolk's Ingleside and Virginia Beach's Thalia Village. It passes directly across the street from Norfolk's Easton Preschool.
Mauney also questioned whether the line would be fenced in, so people, especially children, couldn't wander in front of a light rail car.
``Some areas will have them, some will not,'' said Jayne B. Whitney, TRT's program management director. ``We want to go station by station, neighborhood by neighborhood, and talk to the people and find out what they want, whether they want fencing or not.''
``From our experience with other light rail systems, (safety) has not been a source of major problems,'' said Dennis Probst, a TRT consultant and vice president of Minneapolis-based BRW Inc.
Light rail cars operate very differently from a heavy diesel locomotive hauling freight cars, Probst said. While they can travel at up to 55 miles per hour, light rail cars can accelerate and decelerate much like a car.
The light rail plan also calls for all the grade crossings to be improved for safety, Whitney said.
Most of the private drives probably would be closed, she said. And warning lights, bells and crossing bars probably would be installed at the public roads.
Whitney called the safety question an engineering issue that will be addressed in the next study. She added that if TRT finds that it makes sense to separate the rail line from the road anyplace else, it will do it, despite the added expense.
``Obviously no one's going to do anything not safe,'' she said.
Expense is an important issue for the light rail's viability, too. The proposal estimates a cost of $376 million, but ``nothing's in stone,'' Whitney said.
Norfolk Southern has a lot of experience with safety. For seven years running, it has been recognized as the safest large-freight railroad in the nation. Its accident rate is half that of the average for the nation's large railroads. Still, during 1995, 72 people were killed and 219 injured in 690 grade crossing accidents along its 14,500-mile system.
According to the Norfolk Southern executives, the railroad has only resolved one light rail issue.
``There is one thing we've agreed on with them (TRT), and that is they cannot cross us at grade,'' Mauney said.
The light rail system would bridge the freight rail lines going to Norfolk Southern's coal piers and another set of lines that connect to the cargo piers at Norfolk International Terminals, the Norfolk Naval Base and Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.
Norfolk Southern firmly believes that freight and passenger rail just don't mix, Mauney said.
TRT has proposed that Norfolk Southern serve its freight customers along the light rail corridor between midnight and 6 a.m., when the light rail wouldn't be operating, said Eisenach, of Norfolk Southern.
Norfolk Southern had wanted a window of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., he said.
``We have not approached our customers yet to see if this will fit their schedule,'' Eisenach said.
The railroad moves more than 3,000 carloads a year to customers along the line. Those customers include The Virginian-Pilot's printing plant, Vulcan Materials Co. and Oceana Naval Air Station.
Perhaps more significant is how Norfolk Southern would transfer ownership of the rail line.
``The presumption's been made that the right of way is there for them to use,'' Mauney said.
``We have never come to agreement about that,'' Eisenach said. ``That still needs to be negotiated.''
TRT proposed in a document delivered to Norfolk Southern this week that TRT buy the rail corridor and give the railroad limited rights to operate its trains down the line. The letter of intent said the terms of such a sale would be determined later.
So what is the railroad's position?
``Norfolk Southern is willing to listen,'' Mauney said. ILLUSTRATION: DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
The Virginian-Pilot
Norfolk Southern considers grade crossings - like this one, at
Rosemont Road - so dangerous that it pays communities to close them.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SOUTHERN LIGHT RAIL TRT by CNB