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LETTERS

Beware the Train Tracks
Your photo highlighting staff member Ashley Difuntorum at the top of page 11 in the March issue, while intending to provide a humorous visual of her ability to keep staff "on track," was in fact a poor choice of props.  Railroad property is not a public playground.

For the past several years, the nation's railroads have conducted a public safety education program called "Operation Lifesaver" in an effort to reduce the number of trespasser fatalities which result from actions such as those demonstrated by Ms. Difuntorum. What the photo actually documented was that not only is she illegally trespassing on private property, she is endangering her own life (and career!) by violating some of the basic safety rules observed by every railroad employee: 1) ALWAYS expect a train on any track, from either direction, and 2) NEVER step on a rail, for any reason.

Judging from background in the photo, it appears it was taken on the Union Pacific mainline just north of the Spaghetti Factory on J Street, which sees a parade of trains each day in both directions. Likewise, rail-walking is no less than an invitation to a sprain, fall or more serious injury.  If, as the caption infers, Ms. Difuntorum was so occupied, was also intensely involved with her Blackberry and inattentive to her surroundings, it's quite possible she would never see her two-year-old son grow up --when the train she didn't expect and never heard takes her life, or worse, when her son -- mimicking his mother's bad example -- one day plays on the tracks and becomes another juvenile railroad trespasser fatality.

Only one such death is one too many. Sadly and avoidably, it happens far too frequently. Education is the key.

David L. Briggs
Rail Transportation Research
Continued...

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