Re: The lure of the rails: Trespassing has become top railroad safety issue
Author: Erik H.
Date: 09-20-2016 - 08:40
mook Wrote:
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> Railroads (even publicly owned ones) are "private" property. The public doesn't have a right to
> access and cross the r/w. And in general it's not the RR's responsibility to provide for
> crossings unless they build a line that cuts something off....Public lines like Metrolink and
> Coaster sometimes do contribute to building something where there's a long-standing issue, but
> they don't have to.
Ahhh, I love it when the problem comes down to "which government agency is going to pay for something", and the taxpayers are like "I paid for it, I don't care WHO builds it, just build the damn thing!"
I see it every day when a transit agency complains it can't build a simple bus stop, because it's on a street in one city, but the highway is maintained by another agency. But, when it's something that is "desirable" then everything magically happens.
In Del Mar...the pedestrian crossing is not very important, so the agencies bicker and complain about it. But, propose a new Coaster route and I bet everyone will magically work together to make it happen, even though it will cost hundreds of times more, require hundreds of more employees, and require hundreds times more work, than the simple single pedestrian crossing.