Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit expands efforts to prevent accidents on train tracks

Officials with the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit authority are ramping up their train safety program as passenger service, absent from the North Coast for more than a half-century, gears up to resume later this year.

With trains already being tested along the initial 42-mile route, the rail agency has unleashed a barrage of ads, signs and other media to raise public awareness about train safety, including stern warnings that motorists not attempt to drive around lowered crossing gates.

At the same time, rail officials have been working with homeless advocates and police to clear encampments along the tracks.

“Our operators have already encountered people on the tracks,” said Jennifer Welch, the rail agency’s newly-sworn police chief.

The problem was evident Wednesday during a brief train ride from the rail operations center near Airport Boulevard to Railroad Square in Santa Rosa. Several encampments within the rail authority’s right-of-way were visible from the passenger windows, including near the intersection of West Steele Lane.

“It’s a challenge up and down the tracks,” Welch said.

SMART officials arranged the train ride to highlight safety on the nascent service. Passenger rail largely ended on the North Coast in 1958, and for many, its impending resumption likely hasn’t hit home.

“It’s surprising the number of people who ask what the SMART train is,” Welch said aboard one of the rail cars.

Stopped briefly at Railroad Square, the train drew a crowd of curious onlookers.

Trains have been moving along the route from near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport to downtown San Rafael for weeks as engineers test the cars. Monday, the trains are expected to begin operating at speed on the tracks running from Airport Boulevard to Sebastopol Road, as the focus turns to bringing the entire system of dispatch, signaling and operations on-line.

The signaling system works by automatically lowering crossing gates as trains approach, according to Matt Stevens, a spokesman for SMART. The rail cars are equipped with positive train control that automatically monitors speed and brings the vehicle to a halt if traveling too fast.

But Welch said she’s not aware of any system that can detect people who have ventured onto the tracks, which means train operators will have to remain vigilant to trespassers. She said operators have reported people playing games of chicken with the trains.

“Preventing people from making a bad decision is beyond our control,” Welch said.

The agency has taken measures to limit irresponsible behavior, including installing raised medians at a number of crossings to prevent motorists from driving around lowered gates. It also has installed fencing along much of the route, particularly in urban areas.

Passenger safety is another issue.

Similar to other rail services, passengers boarding SMART trains will not be screened for contraband or weapons. Welch said surveillance cameras will monitor on-board activities. But as chief, she is the only member of the rail agency’s public safety department.

Welch said the rail cars, which will travel in pairs, are small enough to allow employees to keep an eye on what’s going on and to react quickly to problems. Law enforcement situations, however, will be handled by city and county authorities, whose response will depend on where the train is when the incident is reported.

Welch said SMART also is consulting with federal officials on combating the threat of terrorism.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.