UTU News Digest - Wednesday, July 19, 2000

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Wednesday, July 19, 2000

PENNSYLVANIA: Amtrak Cop Kills Threatening Man
PENNSYLVANIA: Rail police rules aim for restraint
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Train Horns Bring Out the Wrath in Hastert
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Train horns stir wrath of families
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Northeast Ohio mayors demand quieter trains
CALIFORNIA: Subway Stops Report High Ridership
CALIFORNIA: Dead snake holds up billion-dollar project

PENNSYLVANIA: Amtrak Cop Kills Threatening Man

PHILADELPHIA -- A man who was harassing passengers at the city's main train station was shot to death by Amtrak police Tuesday after he allegedly threatened them with a chair, a wire service reported. One witness quoted the man as saying: "You're going to have to shoot me." The man, who was believed to be homeless, was threatening passers-by at 30th Street Station and using profane language, witnesses said.

Amtrak Chief of Police Ron Frazier said a restaurant in the station contacted his department to report the man. Two officers were escorting the man out of the station when he picked up a chair and threatened them, then threw it at one of the officers, Frazier said.

The other officer, Lt. Dennis Kelly, fired one shot and struck the man in the chest, Frazier said. The shooting apparently did not affect train travel at the station, which handles Amtrak and commuter trains.

Glenda Langley, 42, a sanitation worker who was in the station on a break, said she saw the man holding the chair over his head and the two officers pleading with him to drop it.

"The guy was saying, 'Stay away. You're going to have to shoot me,"' Langley said. The man swung the chair when one of the officers reached for it, she said.

"After it happened, everyone screamed," Langley said. "Tears came out of my eyes and some people said, 'You didn't have to do that."'

Langley said she saw the man nearly every day at the station, adding, "He often talks to himself, but he never seemed violent."

Kelly, an 11-year member on the Amtrak police force, was placed on leave while the Philadelphia Police Department investigates. Amtrak spokesman Rick Remington said deadly force is justified in a life-threatening situation.

Amtrak has 500 police officers nationwide who are trained and accredited like regular municipal officers, he said.

Cheri Honkala, leader of the advocacy group Kensington Welfare Rights Union, said police could have handled the situation better.

"Where ever there's homeless people and law enforcement, there's going to be a situation where (the homeless) are going to be treated less than human or they're going to be treated like someone to be feared," Honkala said.

The shooting happened less than two weeks before the start of the Republican National Convention, which is expected to draw 45,000 GOP officials, delegates and media to Philadelphia from July 31 to Aug. 3.

PENNSYLVANIA: Rail police rules aim for restraint

PHILADELPHIA -- The Patrol Guide for the Amtrak Police Department sends a clear directive: force should only be used as a last resort, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

Guns should never be drawn unless there is an imminent danger or a threat to a life, the guide states, and "Officers WILL NOT shoot except when the officer reasonably believes that the action is in defense of human life. . ."

So that is the question that investigators must ask as they sift through the evidence of yesterday's fatal shooting of Robert Brown, a chair-wielding homeless man in Amtrak's 30th Street train station.

Did officer Dennis Kelly, a 12-year veteran of the force, believe that his partner Walter Whaler's life was in danger when Brown brandished a chair over his head and lunged toward the officer?

And did he actually have to shoot?

The 40-caliber semi-automatic Glocks carried by Amtrak police are the same guns used by city police, according to Amtrak spokesman Rick Remington.

Amtrak officers learn how to use those guns at the federal law enforcement training center in Glenco, Ga., he said, and must pass firearms testing twice a year and sit through annual seminars on the use of force.

But in addition to guns, the national rail line issues nightsticks and pepper spray to their officers.

"Firearms are but one type of force the police are authorized to use in carrying out their responsibilities," the policy states. Remington could not say whether Kelly was equipped with either his nightstick or his pepper spray when he opened fire on Brown. That information has been turned over the city police, along with a copy of the videotape that was in the station's surveillance camera at the time.

"All of that is going to be part of the investigation, which is being handled by city police," Remington said. Police sources say that tape reveals an unarmed Brown surrounded by four police officers, and that the officers were equipped with nightsticks and mace.

So the shooting, which stunned and frightened bystanders, once again forces this city to confront the grim question of whether police used excessive force.

The city licenses numerous officers to carry guns - including city police, Amtrak police, SEPTA and housing officers.

All of them are told to use force only as a last resort.

But Amtrak's policy hammers it home: "The least amount of force necessary in any situation is the greatest amount of force that is permissible," the policy states.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Train Horns Bring Out the Wrath in Hastert

WASHINGTON -- Never mind that Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has been busy Backing popular Republican election-year bills to cut taxes and provide prescription drugs to the elderly, the New York Times reported.

Today he took up the cudgels to deal with something that really keeps his Illinois constituents up at night, tossing and turning.

In a rare appearance as a star witness at a Congressional hearing, the speaker led a parade of critics who attacked a proposed federal regulation that would require trains to blow their horns at railroad crossings, a step to help avoid accidents with cars and trucks.

"The impact of the rule on my constituents and the people of Illinois cannot be understated," Mr. Hastert told a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee.

Many states have already adopted similar rules. But, in a clash between public safety and quality of life, a squadron of legislators and civic leaders complained today that the federal regulation, while well meaning, would unleash a never-ending cacophony of klaxons in hundreds of cities, towns and hamlets situated along rail lines.

"Crossings along many lines are located so closely together that train engineers might as well tape the horn button down: there will be simply no break in the noise," said Miguel d'Escoto, deputy chief of staff to Chicago's mayor, Richard M. Daley. "The mental stress and strain on our residents will be unimaginable."

More than 400 people a year die in collisions at crossings.

Half the fatalities occur at crossings equipped with gates and flashing lights, which drivers sometimes ignore.

To address the hazard, Congress passed legislation in 1994 mandating that trains toot their horns as they approach crossings.

But it was only this January, after several delays that the Federal Railroad Administration published the proposed rule to carry out the law. The proposal is now being subjected to a period of public comment, and the railroad agency hopes to have the issue resolved by the end of the year.

In the meantime, 34 states and scores of local communities have already approved their own horn-blowing statutes, which incorporate alternatives that localities can adopt to maintain peace and quiet while promoting safety at the crossings.

The railroad agency has questioned some of those options, citing a 1995 study that showed crashes were 84 percent more likely to occur at crossings where whistles were banned than at crossings where they were sounded routinely.

Wherever there are passenger or freight trains, from Long Island and New Jersey to San Diego, the issue of horns versus harmony has roiled communities.

But nowhere else is the matter so contentious as in and around Chicago, the hub of the nation's rail operations.

Chicago transportation experts say that under the federal rule, train whistles blaring at deafening levels would rattle about 725,000 residents of the city, with the brunt of the assault falling on poor neighborhoods near the tracks.

As for Mr. Hastert, his Congressional district, Illinois's 14th, just west of Chicago, is home to one of every five railroad crossings in the state.

The proposed rule would permit a variety of alternatives to the horn-blowing, including four-gate crossings and median barriers. But Mr. Hastert and other critics of the rule want the agency to give communities even greater flexibility in devising quieter options.

John V. Wells, the agency's administrator, suggested that he was ready to work with the critics. "There are many ways to skin this cat," he said.

But many of the options are costly, and would be a drain on the coffers of small rural hamlets and suburban towns.

A flashing-signal system can cost $60,000, the Transportation Department says, and a gate across one lane $15,000 -- to say nothing of an overpass, which can run $2 million to $3 million.

Critics warn that even as states like Illinois move to replace simple "crossbuck" railroad crossing signs, the financing to fix the most dangerous rail-auto intersections, many in rural areas, may be siphoned away if the horn rule results in an abundance of spending on alternatives in urban areas.

"The proposed rule could actually have the unintended consequence of decreasing rail safety," Mr. Hastert said.

"Public pressure to shield highly populated communities from noise will undoubtedly overcome the need to upgrade the dangerous crossings."

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Train horns stir wrath of families

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of families in Rita Mullins' bustling Chicago suburb would get blasted with train horns about 70 times a day under a government plan requiring trains to sound their whistles at all crossings lacking state-of-the-art safety devices, a wire service reported.

"It will effectively destroy everything the state of Illinois has fought so hard to achieve," the mayor of Palatine, Ill., told a House Transportation panel Tuesday.

A long line of witnesses, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, echoed her plea that was aimed less at the largely sympathetic congressional panel than at the Federal Railroad Administration, which made the proposal as it attempted to meet a 1994 congressional mandate.

An FRA analysis concluded crossings with conventional gates but no whistles have 62 percent more accidents than those where horns are blown. But the agency has been inundated with complaints since announcing its plan earlier this year.

Those testifying warned that if the regulation is adopted as proposed, the quality of life would be ruined for residents near the 2,058 railroad crossings around the country where tooting trains are now banned.

About a third of those crossings are in the Chicago area.

Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Virginia also have large numbers of crossings where train horns are not alllowed.

"The impact to my constituents and the people of Illinois cannot be underestimated," said Hastert, who represents a suburban Chicago district crisscrossed by railroad tracks.

Hastert and Rep. Bill Lipinski, D-Ill., have proposed an alternative to the FRA that would exempt all intersections that have been accident-free for five years and those with conventional gates and lights that have had fewer than three accidents.

Their plan also would extend from two years to 10 years the deadline for communities to upgrade crossings before the horns must start to blow. It also would count as an acceptable upgrade lower-cost, less-intrusive methods such as automated horns blown only at the crossing.

"There are modifications to the proposed rule that must be made if we are going to be able to accept this," Lipinski said.

John Wells, an FRA deputy administration, stressed that the regulation would look much different when finalized. He suggested one acceptable option -- not now included -- might be a combination of conventional gates and flashing lights with aggressive enforcement and public awareness.

In addition, he said, the current proposal already contains significant flexibility that could minimize the changes needed.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Northeast Ohio mayors demand quieter trains

WASHINGTON - Rail-side communities in Northeast Ohio are eagerly tracking new federal regulations that would let them establish "quiet zones" free from tooting train whistles, a pair of Northeast Ohio mayors yesterday told a House transportation subcommittee, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

Mayors Thomas Coyne of Brook Park and Robert Blomquist of Olmsted Falls said their residents have been bombarded with round-the-clock whistle blasts since the Norfolk Southern/CSX acquisition of Conrail nearly doubled train traffic in their communities.

The pair told the House Ground Transportation Subcommittee they would like the Federal Railroad Administration to let them ban whistle blasts, but said they dread the high cost of rail crossing improvements they would need to qualify for the proposed "quiet zone" program.

Blomquist said the $300,000 expense of erecting the most stringent crossing protections at the seven crossings in his community could bankrupt his city, unless federal aid is available.

"It seems unfair that in order to get relief from an action not of our causing, we must purchase peace and quiet," Blomquist said.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Cleveland Democrat, and Rep. Steve LaTourette, a Madison Republican who sits on the subcommittee, told the gathering they hoped communities could establish quiet zones by providing less expensive upgrades without sacrificing safety.

"The FRA must continue to look for supplemental safety measures that are affordable," Kucinich said. "I also encourage FRA to approach Congress with a plan to offer additional funding to help these projects."

LaTourette said communities could qualify for the program by setting up cameras at rail crossings and issuing tickets to people who cross them illegally, setting up stationary horn and light systems at crossings, and boosting police patrols.

FRA Deputy Administrator John V. Wells said his agency is several months away from issuing its final rules on the subject, and would weigh comments it received from Congress and at 12 public hearings it conducted on the issue.

"We must find new ways of fostering the mobility of people and freight without sacrificing safety," Wells said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, both of Illinois, also told the subcommittee of their constituents' distress with ear-splitting train whistles. That made Brook Park's Coyne more optimistic that a solution would be reached.

"If it's not just limited to Northeast Ohio, and cities around the country are facing broad-based problems, I think they'll be more effective in putting together a remedy," Coyne said.

CALIFORNIA: Subway Stops Report High Ridership

LOS ANGELES -- Three weeks after two San Fernando Valley subway stations opened, both Red Line stops are reporting large ridership numbers--with the Universal City stop emerging as the fifth-busiest in the 16-station system, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the Universal City stop averages 19,488 daily boardings and arrivals. The North Hollywood station, the end of the Red Line, had 15,902 average daily boardings and arrivals and is the seventh most used stop in the system.

The busiest subway stop is 7th Street/Metro with 41,712 average boardings and arrivals, followed by Union Station with 23,772; and the third most heavily used is Wilshire Boulevard/Vermont Avenue with 23,526.

MTA spokesman Gary Wosk said the high ridership at Universal City is largely due to tourists visiting CityWalk and Universal Studios.

In January, the MTA will begin a comprehensive survey of passengers, Wosk said, to determine who is using the subway. The last such study was done five years ago. Most riders were thought to be using the subway to travel to and from work.

The MTA is also meeting with the city Department of Transportation next week to address parking shortages at its North Hollywood and Universal City Red Line parking lots, which have been full by midday.

CALIFORNIA: Dead snake holds up billion-dollar project

SAN FRANCISCO -- A dead snake halted construction for nine days on part of a $1.5 billion project to extend trains to the city's airport, a wire service reported.

The discovery of the foot-long San Francisco garter snake, apparently crushed by heavy equipment, showed that the area was habitat for the endangered species.

Federal officials ordered the shutdown on the Bay Area Rapid Transit extension, in part to prod the contractor to devise means of spotting and protecting other snake habitat along the route. "I think the contractor got the word that the project can be shut down," said Sheila Larsen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "They are fully aware of the delays that can occur."

The shutdown cost "on the order of six figures," said BART spokesman Dave Madden.

The extension to the San Francisco airport is supposed to be completed by New Year's Eve 2001, although Madden said that is "an ambitious goal" because of delays caused by weather and other problems.