VIDEO: The Safety Impact Of Railroad Upkeep

MONROE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)-Many of us drive over railroad crossings every day.

From 18 wheelers, to school buses, to our personal cars, railroad crossings definitely receives a fair share of usage.

That deadly crash involving a train and a charter bus Wednesday in Biloxi, is putting a focus on safety a railroad crossings.

There are three railroad companies that cross through Monroe County every day, and hundreds of vehicles that cross over those train tracks.

With that much weight going back-and-forth on the tracks, it eventually creates wear and tear on the tracks.

Monroe County Supervisor Billy Kirkpatrick tells WCBI the upkeep at the crossings fall on the railroad company and the county.

“We’re responsible for the maintenance up to the point, up to .25 feet before you get to that railroad crossing on each side,” said Kirkpatrick.

Everything else he said, falls on the shoulders of the railroad company, including the crossing itself, the flashing red-lights, and the level crossings.

“The railroad has got to have control over that crossing because they have to maintain that track, they have to maintain the integrity of it,” Kirkpatrick explained.

“We work in close association with them,” said Sonny Clay, Monroe County road manager. “If they’re going to come in and let’s say, level crossing up, or maybe the rails need to be picked up a little bit, or put some new cross ties up underneath it. They’ll call and notify us and make sure they’re taking proper traffic control measures. We’ll work with the them when the crossing is raised and determine do we need to put some more asphalt down to level out the approach to the railroad crossing.”

The county also has to notify the railroad company if it plans to do any work near the tracks.

“They will normally send out a person who will stand guard, and let us know how long we got before the next train will come through,” Clay explained.

Clay said when residents complain about issues at the crossings, county leaders will ask the railroad company to come in and make repairs.

“We’ve had cases where years ago we had a lowboy get hung up on the Crossing, and we had to call them and get them to shut it down so we can get someone over there to pull the lowboy off the crossing,” Clay recalled.

Counties also have responsibilities to alert drivers.

“We do replace and are responsible for putting up the railroad crossing head signs and also the railroad cross-buck in the road self,” said Clay.

If drivers have problems or want to make any complaints about repairs at a railroad crossing, each company has a phone number on a placard at the crossing.