The real shocking headline would have been: "Governor Cuomo orders
railroad to make their crossings safe for the public.
But of course Cuomo knows who, "The People" are: meaning the people
who bought him his job.
What is strange is that so many of us think it's okay for the railroad
to put profit ahead of the safety of the people. We don't seem to be
able to imagine a world where people's safety came first. A land
where our children could be given quality child care and a free
education to the highest level they were capable of achieving, and
where mines and factories and construction sites were all inspected
and passed for safety. A land where our health was considered vital
to a healthy nation. Where care of our elderly was our thanks to them
for their lifetime labors. We would not have debates over clean air,
because we put people's health first. We would make employment
available for all who could work, and support for those who could not.
Slum Lords would be sent packing, and decent housing would be provided
to all. If we really cared for people first, we would require all
people to participate in building a quality society. That would mean
that those who presently look out for only themselves, would be
"encouraged" to share back what they had piled up for themselves.
Oh well, time to put my pipe away and get something done.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/14/15, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@aol.com> wrote:
> http://themilitant.com/2015/7906/790605.html
> The Militant (logo)
>
> Vol. 79/No. 6 February 23, 2015
>
> (front page)
> NY rail crash kills 6, Gov. Cuomo
> says safe crossings are 'too costly'
>
> BY NAOMI CRAINE
> NEW YORK -- In the deadliest accident in Metro-North Railroad's history,
> a commuter train slammed into an SUV at a crossing in Valhalla, N.Y.,
> Feb. 3, dragging the car 1,000 feet and setting them both on fire,
> killing Ellen Brody, the driver, and five train passengers. While media
> reports have placed the blame on the driver for finding herself on the
> tracks, many rail workers and others say the crossing where the crash
> took place was unsafe and the fault lies with the state-run railroad.
> The morning after the disaster New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told a CBS
> news show, "Sometimes there are just accidents."
>
> Pressed on why steps aren't being taken to eliminate ground-level
> crossings and replace them with under- or overpasses, Cuomo told Time
> Warner channel NY1, "In theory it's a nice idea. In practicality, do we
> have the money, do we have the time? And is it one of the top priority
> safety projects? I would say no."
>
> Since 2003 there have been 260 grade-crossing "accidents" on the three
> commuter rail systems that serve the greater New York City area --
> Metro-North, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road. According
> to the Federal Railroad Administration, 73 people were killed and 148
> injured.
>
> After a crossing gate came down on the SUV, Brody apparently pulled
> forward into the path of the crowded train, according to Robert Sumwalt
> of the National Transportation Safety Board. The train's engineer,
> Steven Smalls, slammed on the brakes, but it was too late.
>
> Smalls narrowly escaped being impaled when the third rail pierced the
> train. He helped evacuate passengers from the burning train and was
> later hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
>
> Metro-North only assigned two crew members to the train -- Smalls and one
> conductor -- who helped get passengers off all eight cars.
>
> The crash took place during the evening rush hour at an intersection
> near a highway entrance. Red lights and crossing gates had been
> installed there after a deadly crash in 1984 in which a train struck a
> vehicle. State transportation officials planned five years ago to
> install an additional set of lights to give drivers more warning of
> approaching trains, but never did.
>
> Regular commuters have told the press they consider the crossing
> dangerous. Lance Sexton, an electronic equipment assembler who lives in
> Valhalla, told the New York Times, "We know that coming down the hill ...
> you have to put the brakes on earlier." He said he worries about how
> soon the trains pass after the gates come down. Of the driver who found
> herself on the tracks, Sexton said, "It happens."
>
> At her funeral Feb. 6, Alan Brody said his wife had been driving in an
> unfamiliar area. He said he had once been there and "remember thinking,
> 'Are you kidding?' Who could imagine that a major commuter railroad runs
> through this?"
>
> Ending grade crossings not a priority
> Nationwide, only 15 percent of the more than 250,000 locations where
> railroad tracks and roadways intersect have a bridge or underpass to
> separate the tracks from cars and pedestrians. There are about 270
> deaths a year at public and private grade crossings in the United
> States. On average, someone is hit by a train every three hours.
>
> This is not just a U.S. problem. Roughly one person a day is killed by
> trains at grade crossings in Europe. Some 15,000 people are killed each
> year trying to cross railroad tracks in India, especially in crowded
> working-class areas in the country's major cities. In Mumbai alone 6,000
> people are killed each year.
>
> "No civilized society can accept such a massacre on their railway
> system," said a 2012 report by the High Level Safety Review Committee,
> which was set up by the Indian government after outcry against the
> massive number of deaths on the tracks. The report laid the blame
> squarely on the railway bosses.
>
> Every single one of these killings is preventable by installing under-
> or overpasses.
>
> Worsening working conditions on the job and growing danger to
> communities along train routes are sparking workers to fight back on
> U.S. railroads. Last September, trainmen and engineers on the BNSF
> Railway overwhelmingly rejected a proposal from the bosses to cut train
> crews to one person.
>
> There have been several serious incidents on Metro-North in the last
> couple years, including a December 2013 derailment in the Bronx that
> killed four passengers and injured 70. A report by the Federal Railroad
> Administration on that so-called accident said Metro-North management
> had a "deficient safety culture."
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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