Tampa — Expensive Problem

Rail Transit Online, October 2003

The problem of how to protect streetcars crossing an active freight railroad that the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) thought had been solved two years ago has popped up again, and it threatens to cost taxpayers a bundle.  The TECO Line Streetcar System crosses CSX tracks at grade on 13th Street just south of Fifth Avenue.  Prior to the start of revenue service the railroad demanded a $500-million insurance policy to make certain that CSX would be indemnified in the event of a wreck (see RTOL, July & Nov. 2001).   However the premium would have been $1 million annually, an amount that was unaffordable.  Instead, HART and CSX agreed to hire CSX conductors to act as flagmen at the crossing, a solution that that was to have cost only $196,000 a year — a figure that has since ballooned to about $300,000.  However, it turns out the flagmen assigned in shifts to the crossing aren’t really flagmen at all.  They sit in an air conditioned trailer adjacent to the crossing and wait for a radio call from the streetcar crew. The flagman asks whether the motorman sees the signal controlling the crossing.  When the motorman acknowledges the signal, the flagman’s job is done.  Since the streetcar line opened in October 2002, there have been several incidents in which a collision between a trolley and a train has narrowly been averted.  The cause was apparently miscommunication.  Meanwhile, because CSX has refused to put the flagman on the street to watch for trains, HART has placed a supervisor at the location, raising the price tag even further.  HART has been trying to find reasonably-priced insurance that would save money compared with the flagman and supervisor but so far without success.