Experts: A-Line flaggers don’t make crossings safer
High-priced workers subject of hearing over G-Line
Flaggers at crossings along the University of Colorado ALine for nearly two years — at a cost estimated in the tens of millions of dollars — are no longer needed and should be removed, several experts testified at a state hearing Thursday.
A former federal rail-safety official told an administrative law judge with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission that the Regional Transportation District’s signaling system across the 11 crossings on the ALine to the airport “is as safe as any system you’ll find out there.”
“It would be very hard to come up with any safety benefit of those flaggers,” said Clifford Eby, who served as deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration under President George W. Bush and is now a consultant for RTD’s contractor, Denver Transit Partners.
Eby’s testimony came during a hearing in which RTD is appealing to state regulators to give final approval to its signaling technology at crossings along both the A-Line, which has been operating under a federal waiver since it opened in April 2016, and the yet-to-open G-Line to Arvada and Wheat Ridge.
The hearing is the final step before state officials decide whether to approve the crossing-gate technology. The timing of that decision is unclear.
The G-Line, which was sup-
posed to start carrying passengers in the fall of 2016, has been delayed because it uses the same crossing technology as the A-Line.
RTD’s wireless crossing-gate technology has been problematic because crossing arms stay down longer than what federal standards call for — up to 20 seconds too long. That additional closure time prompted the PUC in September to reject certification for the system, worrying that impatient motorists might try to sneak past the gates and into the path of an oncoming train.
Coincidentally, the PUC’s Sept. 27 decision came a day before the Federal Railroad Administration, which legally also had to sign off on the technology, deemed the crossings to be safe.
RTD general manager Dave Genova testified Thursday that the crossings along the A-Line are “complete, operational and safe” and that the risk of the flaggers being injured on the job outweighs their value as a safety backstop for motorists.
He cited a fatal earlymorning crash from last February, in which police believe a man deliberately drove his vehicle into the path of an oncoming ALine train, as an instance where flying debris from the collision could have hurt the gate attendants on scene.
“Today, I don’t feel they’re necessary,” Genova said of the flaggers, many of whom are police officers and are making more than $50 an hour as gate attendants.
He also said the cost of monitoring the crossings, which is being covered by Denver Transit Partners and not taxpayers, is “extreme.” The total, he said, is likely in the “tens and tens of millions of dollars.”
The timing of the crossing gates was explored at length Thursday, with an engineer who helped design the system that RTD uses stating that “it’s just as good or better” than any other in the country.
Mike Steffen, the senior manager of rail solutions with HNTB, said having a 20-second buffer for crossing gates helps account for normal deviations in train schedules caused by everyday events, such as prolonged station stops or reports of someone on the tracks.
Steffen said he’s not aware of longer gate closures along the A-Line tempting motorists to try to maneuver past the gates, despite there being more than 1,000 crossing activations a day in the corridor.
PUC Judge Robert Garvey, who presided over Thursday’s hearing, asked Steffen if there was any reason why the A-Line wouldn’t immediately qualify for quiet-zone status, where trains wouldn’t have to blow a horn upon approaching a crossing. Steffen said there wasn’t.
Many residents along the tracks have complained about the horns, which blare up to 17,000 times a month. Denver and Aurora plan to apply for quiet zones as soon as the PUC certifies the crossings.
Garvey is tasked with compiling a report based on Thursday’s testimony and presenting it to the PUC commissioners, who will make the final decision on both commuter rail lines.