WASHINGTON – Five of the 13 most dangerous railroad crossings in the country are in the Phoenix metro area, according to data released Thursday by the Federal Railroad Administration.

The crossings with the first, second and fifth most incidents in the country over the past decade are in Phoenix, while those ranked third and 12th are in Glendale. No other state has more than one crossing in the top 13 out of more than 200,000 crossings monitored by the administration.

The 13 were highlighted because they each had at least 10 incidents in the past 10 years.

Those Arizona crossings and the number of incidents and injuries at each include:

1. West Thomas Road, just east of North 27th Ave., Phoenix; 24 incidents, two injuries.
2. North 35th Avenue, just south of U.S. 60 and West Indian School Road, Phoenix; 21 incidents, four injuries.
3. North 43rd Avenue, just south of U.S. 60, Glendale; 19 incidents, three injuries.
4. North 27th Avenue, just north of West Thomas Road, Phoenix; 15 incidents, four injuries.
5. 5100 block of West Bethany Home Road, Glendale; 10 incidents, one injury.

The incidents in Phoenix involved a variety of circumstances, including trains striking vehicles stopped on crossings, vehicles hitting moving trains and vice versa and pedestrians being hit crossing the tracks. No fatalities occurred at these crossings.

Gates are in place at three of the crossings, while flashing lights warn motorists at the other two. Federal safety standards do not require gates. All of the crossings have 13 trains passing through each day, according to the rail administration. And all had heavy motor vehicle traffic, with the top three seeing more than 30,000 vehicles cross each day.

Heavy traffic and the lack of crossing gates at two intersections create a dangerous combination, said Brian Lehman, supervisor of the Railroad Safety Division at the Arizona Corporation Commission. That’s because vehicles are often left trapped on the railroad crossing when trains arrive.

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Lehman did not know when improvements would be made, but said planning is underway at four of the five crossings. The process is slow, he said, because it requires coordination among the commission; the state; the cities of Phoenix and Glendale; and BNSF Railway, which owns all of the track.

Another complexity is coordinating the traffic signals with the warning system in the trains so vehicles are not stranded on the crossings.

The railroad administration’s release of the list of crossings with the most incidents follows Administrator Sarah Feinberg’s recent letter to state transportation departments nationwide urging greater cooperation to improve safety at crossings. The letter also highlighted federal funds and expertise that is available.

“Knowing where repeat injuries and fatalities occur helps states focus their times and resources on areas where they can have impact,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox said.
Nationwide, the number of fatalities at railroad crossings in 2015 was down to 244, from 264 in 2014.

Ed Greenberg, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, said the issue is “complex, involving many stakeholders all sharing the same concern for reducing crossing incidents.”