Saturday, December 1, 2007

Railroad crossing installed in Belen

Jackie Schlotfeldt News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jschlotfeldt@news-bulletin.com

Belen The railroad crossing at Valentin Road, just north of Aragon Road, is the first of three public crossings to receive additional safety measures added to it. New gated arms and flashing lights were installed at the railroad crossing Thursday morning.

Mid-Region Council of Governments Executive Director Lawrence Rael said the goal is to have two other public crossings, located at Molina Road, north of Belen, and Los Lentes Road in Los Lunas, completed in the next six months or so. Molina and Los Lentes will have regular two-arm gates and signal lights installed.

In an earlier interview, Rael said approximately 400 or so cars per day pass over a couple of the railroad crossings, and adding gates and signals makes the most sense.

"The signal lights and equipment put in today will indicate when a train is on the track and hopefully prevent loss of life," Rael said.

The cost to upgrade the crossings with gated arms will be approximately $900,000, and the funding will come from a combination of federal and state funding geared for this type of improvement projects.

The Aragon Road crossing will be upgraded as well, with four gated arms, and Rael said the money is in place and the equipment has been ordered. Originally, the upgrade to Aragon Road was to begin in mid-November but will be delayed a few weeks until the equipment arrives.

Rael said they are also committed to improving the safety at private crossings and are still negotiating with property owners in the county, particularly at the crossings where two vehicles were involved in fatal accidents with the Rail Runner Express train earlier this year.

The two fatal accidents at the ungated private crossings claimed three people's lives within a month of each other, which caused the Mid-Region Council of Governments to a hard look at the safety at many private crossings throughout the county.

The effort to improve several crossings along the rail corridor, which the New Mexico Rail Runner Express shares with BNSF railroad, will be a benefit to the whole community, Rael said.

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