Even though downtown Kent drivers were frustrated last week when BNSF Railway crossing arms malfunctioned and were stuck down for a couple hours late in the afternoon, those type of incidents are dropping off.
City of Kent and BNSF staff agreed the malfunctions are fewer this year than last year. During spring 2017, gates were stuck down with no trains coming three times during a three-week period.
“Unfortunately, there was a circuit issue (on the track) that had to be adjusted,” said BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas in a phone interview about the Sept. 25 incident. “It caused the delays. We’ll keep an eye on conditions and be monitoring it.”
City staff contacted railroad staff after the gates got stuck.
“BNSF informed us that the malfunctioning gates were caused by a broken part on the rails related to the gate control system,” city traffic engineer Rob Brown said in an email.
City crews placed cameras at several of the railroad crossings last year in an effort to track the delays when the gates were getting stuck so often. Residents, city staff and city leaders were upset with all of the problems with the gates.
“We do have cameras at some of the crossings,” Brown said. “We used them to record malfunctions but those have dropped off after BNSF’s work last year. In this case we talked to BNSF about the issue and did not use staff time to look at the cameras.”
Brown said the city didn’t have specific numbers about gate incidents, but it hasn’t been as much of a problem this year.
“I do not have any empirical data for the reduction in the number of gate malfunctions,” Brown said. “I am just going on the lower frequency of calls I’ve received about the gates malfunctioning.”
BNSF crews upgraded the signal system last year. Seven crossings are tied into the signal system that triggers the crossing gates, including the highly traveled James, Smith and Willis street crossings.
Many Kent streets intersect with the BNSF train crossings. Drivers can avoid trains with the overpasses at South 277th Street, South 228th Street and South 196th Street, but James (aka South 240th) and Smith streets are heavily traveled commute routes for East Hill residents. An underpass at South 180th Street keeps vehicles separate from trains.
Drivers can report gate issues by calling BNSF at 1-800-832-5452.
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