
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 16, 1990                   TAG: 9005160165
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRISTINA SAMUELS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POLICE RIDE THE RAILS FOR SAFETY'S SAKE

Imagine trying to save a few seconds by playing a game of "chicken" with something that weighs hundreds of tons.

Many drivers do.

A motorist tried Tuesday at Diuguids Lane Crossing in Salem. But this one got caught.

Roanoke and Salem police officers were riding a freight train bound for Bluefield, W.Va., when a driver decided to go around the lowered gates at a railroad crossing.

The officers were part of Operation Lifesaver, a program created to encourage rail-crossing safety promoted by Norfolk Southern.

"We depend on public law enforcement to help us," said Steven G. Hanes, chief of police for Norfolk and Western Railway. The railway, which has a police force of 314, works with local officials to investigate traffic violations and other crimes against the company.

Representatives from the railroad are sent to driver education classes to teach railroad safety, and local police officers are allowed aboard trains to discourage people from ignoring the safety barriers at crossings.

C.H. Aliff, an engineer with NW, said he has seen many accidents in his 22 years in railroad work. "It's an everyday thing. We've got a bell and a whistle, and they still try to run [the gates]."

Buck Goforth, captain of the police department for Norfolk Southern, said, "The majority of people going across said they never heard or saw the train, or they thought they could beat it."

The railroad averages 2.4 accidents per day in the 27 states in which it operates. Three cars were hit by trains in Salem last year. There were no accidents in Roanoke.

Goforth said people think the train can stop in time. But a 150-car freight train traveling 30 mph takes a half-mile to stop. At 50 mph, the stopping distance is about 1 miles.

Harold T. Ramey, a special agent for Norfolk Southern, said police officers ride a train about once a week somewhere in the system. Tuesday was the first time police officers rode a train in the Roanoke area.

Operation Lifesaver was created in 1972 by Union Pacific Railroad in Idaho.

by CNB