State To Inspect Eastside Crossings -- Latest Dinner-Train Accident Is Impetus

An official from the state Utilities and Transportation Commission will inspect several crossings along the route of the Spirit of Washington dinner train after a van was hit by the train Monday, making it the fourth accident involving the Spirit in three years.

In the most recent incident, three men were injured - apparently none of them seriously - when their van was dragged 90 feet by the train at a private crossing south of Bellevue.

"There are not a particularly high amount of accidents associated with this (train)," said commission spokeswoman Marilyn Meehan.

Nevertheless, the commission plans to send an inspector within the next week to look for any safety or visibility problems on the train route where accidents have occurred. The commission intends to issue a report later this year on any findings.

Monday's accident was the second involving the dinner train in little more than two weeks. On July 14, a woman suffered cuts and bruises when a car collided with the train at a private crossing at Northeast 124th Street and 135th Avenue Northeast.

In May 1994, a Bellevue woman died after being struck by the Spirit of Washington. She had been trying to free her dog from the tracks and had apparently seen the train coming but had difficulty pulling her dog free.

A Kirkland woman was injured in December 1992 when her car was hit by the train and pushed more than 360 feet before the train stopped. The car had failed to stop at a railroad crossing and had run directly into the path of the train, which was traveling 20 mph at the time, authorities said.

The accidents this month took place at crossings on private property. A stop sign warns vehicles of the tracks, but unlike at public crossings in Washington, trains are not required to sound their whistle when approaching a private crossing, except in emergencies.

Burlington Northern, which operates the Spirit of Washington, has ordered its engineers to sound the train's whistle when approaching the crossing where he July 14 accident occurred. But that's not enough for Lee Ahrens, who owns a business near a train crossing in Kirkland.

"There's just a stop sign there," he said of his crossing near Northeast 124th Street. "The train needs to be blowing its whistle at all its crossings. And put up railroad crossing signs."

It's possible for the train to sound the whistle at all 43 crossings on its Renton-to-Woodinville route, said B-N spokesman Gus Melonas. But it's not required.

"These are unfortunate incidents that've occurred in the past three weeks," Melonas said. "But the bottom line is, it's the motor public's responsibility to stop and yield to trains."