Oak Brook, IL -
With tons of
steel barreling behind and imminent tragedy stranded ahead, Union Pacific
engineer Ford Dodson rammed through the worst day of his life at 69 miles per
hour.
Dodson, of Hazelcrest, was operating a passenger train en route to
Chicago on Oct. 25, 1995, when a yellow school bus pulled out in front,
stopping on the tracks on a crossing in Fox River Grove. Despite sending
whistle signals, Dodson said the bus did not move.
The images of
that day are still vivid in his mind.
The train hit
the back 30 inches of the bus, causing the bus to spin 180 degrees. With 37
people on the bus that day, five children were killed and two more later died
from injuries.
“That was the
worst day of my life,” Dodson said.
Stories like
Dodson’s are pushing a local group to drive an effort to make Illinois
railroads safer. At the seventh rail safety summit on Sept.
18, the DuPage Railroad Safety Council, Illinois
Commerce Commission and Operation Lifesaver, hosted “Prevent Tragedy on the
Tracks by Promoting Sealed Railroad Corridors,” educating guests on sealed
corridors.
A sealed
corridor implements methods to reduce pedestrian and vehicle accidents in
railroad crossings.
From 1980 to
2007, Illinois documented 8,295 train related collisions resulting in 1,227
deaths and 3,283 injuries. One such accident was related by Dodson, who was
invited to the event to tell his story.
The summit
focused on safer methods to implement at crossings to prevent accidents such as
Dodson’s. Paul Worley of the North Carolina Department of Transportation
presented the audience with examples of how the state’s safety initiative has
resulted in safer crossings while being cost effective.
In North
Carolina, Worley said they have evaluated signal systems, and have invested in
longer gate arms and four quadrant gates in many areas, which have all yielded
positive results.
Hinsdale
resident Lanny Wilson, chairman for the DuPage Railroad Safety Council, said that Illinois is
looking to replicate North Carolina’s success with four-quadrant gates.
Wilson’s involvement in railroad safety began after his daughter, Lauren, was
killed at a railroad crossing in 1994.
“At first I
just wanted to fix the crossing where Lauren died and I knew four quadrant
gates would do that,” Wilson said.
Illinois
currently has 79 four quadrant gates and, with time to prove its success and
enough funding, Wilson’s goal is to see all state
crossings equipped with these quadrants.
“That is my
dream and my hope. That is what the DuPage Railroad
Safety Council is working toward,” Wilson said. “I wish these changes would
happen overnight but we have to be patient.”