We have never lived with a start-up commuter rail system before, so we have no way of knowing what the norm is for accidents involving a brand-new railroad. Six in a little more than six months sounds high to us, though.
Police reports on the six incidents (one of them a fatal pedestrian accident) that have occurred since the Denton County Transportation Authority's A-train began running in June have absolved the railroad of any responsibility. Investigations have revealed that in each instance, the accidents were caused by negligence or some other error on the part of the vehicles or the pedestrian involved.
We said earlier that six accidents in a little more than six months "sounds high to us," but we have no idea if this feeling has any basis in fact. The Record-Chronicle's Bj Lewis checked with DCTA officials on accidents in other rail systems for an article in Sunday's paper, and his findings were all over the map. Capital MetroRail, Austin's rail system, went a year before recording an accident. The Tri-Rail system in South Florida had only a few accidents in its first year of operation but accidents have come in spurts since then. In one year, Tri-Rail experienced 17 fatal accidents.
Comparing safety records among rail systems seems to be a pretty risky business. Warren Flatau, the acting director of the Federal Railroad Administration, confirmed that when he told our reporter that differences in area, terrain, weather and population make valid comparisons almost impossible.
The overwhelming evidence is that the DCTA and its A-train have been blameless in each of the six accidents. That would seem to indicate that the DCTA is in the unfortunate position of operating in an area in which residents have missed or ignored the agency's repeated efforts to inform them about the hazards associated with rail crossings and walking along the right of way.
This isn't the fault of the people at the DCTA; it's simply their bad luck.
That said, it was a little tone-deaf of DCTA spokeswoman Dee Leggett to tell Lewis in an interview that, "In any corridor, highway or railroad, incidents occur."
That statement is absolutely true, of course, but being so self-evident, it might just as well have been left unsaid. Saying the equivalent of, "Accidents will happen," has a flippant ring to it, especially when one of those accidents cost a man his life.
It would be better to leave that obvious point unspoken, and re-emphasize the agency's commitment to maintaining high safety standards and educating the public about the need for caution.
