Tragedy on These Tracks: Watauga's Decision to Make Nearby Crossing Silent is Debated in Wake of 5-Y

Oct 27, 12:32 PM

Current Headlines: By Melissa Vargas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Oct. 27--WATAUGA -- Some residents and railroad experts are saying the death of a 5-year-old boy who was struck by a 19,000-ton freight train Thursday evening might have been prevented.

Police said Kevin Bradford, 5, and his brother and cousin, both 7, were looking for "dinosaur bones" near the train tracks Thursday.

The Union Pacific conductor started blowing the train's horn as soon as he saw the boys just north of Watauga Road, near U.S. 377. The two older boys managed to escape danger, Police Chief Rande Benjamin said. But Kevin's foot got caught in the tracks; he tripped and fell.

In the wake of the incident, some residents are questioning the city's "quiet zone" policy at that intersection. If the train had been allowed to blast the horn as it approached Watauga Road -- nearly a quarter-mile away from where Kevin was hit -- he might have had a chance, they say.

Watauga's public works director, Johnnie Reagan, said Thursday that the city has no plans to reconsider its decision on the silent crossing.

Dangerous tracks

Many of the children who play and walk on the tracks watched Kevin's body being removed from beneath two white grain cars late Thursday. Children and teens climb over or through the fence and cut across the railroad tracks to get to the convenience stores, park or school on the other side of the highway. Trains pass by about once an hour.

Masonry walls behind the town home complex on Park Vista Boulevard are supposed to block access to the tracks, but there also is a wooden fence which is often in disrepair, residents said.

Kevin and the other two boys are believed to have shimmied through a hole in the fence Thursday.

Fresh boards Friday indicated recent repairs.

Texas is No. 2 in the U.S. for the most pedestrian-train fatalities. From January through July, 29 pedestrians died on Texas railroads, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. Kevin's death was Watauga's first train-pedestrian fatality, officials said.

Walking along the tracks is considered trespassing, and violators can be ticketed.

"We just can't reiterate it enough," Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona said. "It's dangerous and illegal."

Silent crossings

Watauga city officials worked hard to make the Watauga Road railroad crossing a quiet zone after numerous residents -- many from the Park Vista Townhomes, where Kevin lived -- complained about trains blowing their horns in the mornings and evenings.

The zone was approved in August 2006. The crossing is equipped with special lights and gates to alert drivers about an oncoming train and to prevent them from driving around the gate. But officials at the time raised concerns that people walking near the tracks might get hurt if warning sounds were banned.

The accident

Kevin, a sandy-haired kindergartner, was playing with his brother and cousin, Arbona said. The conductor hit his emergency brake and blew the horn to scare them off the track. The train, heading north to Kansas City, had been traveling at 41 mph and came to a stop more than a mile away.

The conductor and engineer contacted the railroad's emergency response line, who contacted authorities, Arbona said. Then the distraught engineer and conductor ran back to see if they could help the child, officials said.

Police said Kevin's grandmother was making dinner when the other children came to tell her that Kevin had been struck by the train.

Union Pacific officials later met with Kevin's family to express their sympathy.

"The employees and crew are going through a difficult time. Some are parents too," Arbona said. "They usually go through peer-counseling led by others who have been through this before. But some never come back to work."

At Kevin's school, John D. Spicer Elementary in Haltom City, grief counselors met with his classmates Friday to try to help them understand, Birdville spokesman Mark Thomas said.

Police said Kevin's family would not face charges in connection with his death. Relatives declined to comment.

Child Protective Services was called out to investigate the family, spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said.

"We will continue to look into what happened that day and put together a timeline to see where everybody was when the accident happened," Gonzales said.

This report includes material from Star-Telegram archives.

Quiet zones

Federal rules require train operators to sound horns before entering crossings. Exceptions are made for cities that establish quiet zones in areas where horns aren't desirable.

To create a quiet zone, cities must outfit intersections with safety features, such as medians or quadruple crossing arms, to ensure motorists don't drive around signals. Cities pay for the work -- often $100,000 or more per crossing.

A train operator may still sound a horn in a quiet zone if signals are malfunctioning or an animal or person is near the tracks.

Trains don't necessarily slow down in quiet zones. Train speeds are determined by railroads on a case by case basis.

Where are they?

A sample of cities with functioning or proposed quiet zones:

Fort Worth, Haltom City, Keller and Watauga have been jointly working on quiet zones at 15 crossings along Denton Highway for a year or so. The Watauga Road crossing is currently a quiet zone. Fort Worth has six quiet zones elsewhere in the city and is working on about 20 other quiet zone crossings.

Arlington is planning to make $1.6 million in improvements to five crossings for quiet zones by late 2008 -- Bowen Road, Collins Street, Davis Drive, Great Southwest Parkway and Stadium Drive.

Mansfield voters will decide next year whether the city should install wayside horns at 11 crossings for $1.7 million. Wayside horns are installed on the street and make less noise than horns on trains.

Grapevine voters agreed a year ago to raise the local sales tax by 3/8 cent for commuter rail, and city officials said they would consider establishing quiet zones along the old Cotton Belt route.

Aledo is considering quiet zones for two crossings.

-- Gordon Dickson

Source: Star-Telegram archives

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mvargas@star-telegram.com Melissa Vargas, 817-685-3888

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