Never let the perfect become the enemy of the good? Practical, affordable, and doable, in the here and now are critical factors to getting things done. The red herring of grade crossing safety was used by the tiny minority trying to block the Gold line, and is now being used by the tiny minority opposing the Expo line.

Rail safety at grade crossings is achieved very successfully with good design, for modest investments. Grade separation is desirable, but with relatively high speed commuter rail, is often unnecessary because the short period of blockage is no more disruptive than intersecting road traffic. Longer sustained freight operations are the factor motivating the need for mainline grade separation in the LA region, not Metrolink. Also consider integration into parallel traffic signals of rail crossing devices to lessen avoidable delay and increase safety. Metrolink is doing this in Orange County on their grade crossing safety enhancement project.