Cuba warns of rising rail danger, faster trains

Posted on Monday, 05.07.12

Cuba warns of rising rail danger, faster trains
By PETER ORSI
Associated Press

HAVANA -- A railroad upgrade project in Cuba has trains traveling faster
and that means more danger for careless motorists and pedestrians,
authorities said Monday, reporting 33 collisions involving cars and 47
pedestrians hit last year.

An article in labor union newspaper Trabajadores did not say how many of
the vehicular crashes were fatal, but 30 of the people hit by trains
died. That alone was about 50 percent more than the 19 deaths from all
train-related accidents reported the previous year.

The trend appears to be worsening, with 27 pedestrian accidents in just
the first three months of 2012, including 10 fatalities.

This Caribbean island's state-run media are mercifully free of grisly
stories about crashes and violent crime that are common in newspapers
elsewhere, and accidents generally go unreported until officials give a
yearly tally.

But Trabajadores carried accounts of impatient and inattentive drivers
being mowed down, including a motorcyclist who tried to race across the
tracks and an animal cart that failed to stop for a passenger train.

Many crossings here lack descending barriers, and not all drivers come
to a full stop and look both ways as they are supposed to.

Ronald Bofil, director of rail safety and inspection for the Ministry of
Transportation, said a national campaign to overhaul Cuban railroads
means the trains themselves are operating more safely, but efforts to
improve signaling have not resulted in motorists reforming their own bad
habits.

"On the tracks today, the (safety) measures must be extreme. With the
current revitalization of the railways, the trains are gradually
reaching greater velocities," Bofil told Trabajadores. "Nevertheless,
many drivers and pedestrians ignore the danger inherent in crossing
train tracks even when they see the locomotive approaching."

Bofil also said collisions with free-ranging cattle is a significant
problem that joint efforts with the Agriculture Ministry has yet to solve.

He did not give numbers on incidents involving livestock.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/07/2787819/cuba-warns-of-rising-rail-danger.html