Fort Bend County’s Most Dangerous Railroad Crossings All Lie Along U.S. 90A

Next time you find yourself driving across the railroad tracks at Murphy Road and U.S. 90A near Stafford, you might want to make sure and look both ways.

That railroad crossing is the most dangerous in Fort Bend County, according to Federal Railroad Administration records from 2003 through October 2008, obtained by FortBendNow.

The records check shows that, of Fort Bend County’s five most dangerous railroad crossings, four are within a few miles of each other just off U.S. 90A.

Between November of 2003 and October of 2007, five train-vehicle accidents have occurred at the Murphy Road crossing, which has possibly proved confusing for some motorists because of heavy construction that has been ongoing at U.S. 90A.

The second most-dangerous crossing in the county is right down the street – at Stafford Road and U.S. 90A, where four train/vehicle accidents have occurred over the past five years.

FortBendNow looked at railroad crossing accident reports in the county shortly after a statewide organization published a report showing Fort Bend was No. 11 on a list of the “Dangerous Dozen” Texas counties, ranked in terms of the most train accidents and incidents over the past 10 years.

The Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association issued the report as part of a campaign to try to build public support for “generating revenue” for a rail relocation fund.

That fund was created in 2005 after Texas voters passed a constitutional amendment authorizing it. But it is like an empty bank account – it contains no money.

The Texas Legislature so far has not acted to put any tax money into the fund. The association, made up largely of city and county officials around the state, wants the Legislature to put money into the kitty to relocate certain rail lines to relieve vehicular traffic congestion, “enhance” economic development, increase safety and improve air quality.

Ironically, 2007 was the safest year, in terms of vehicle/train accidents, in history.

While the relocation association’s study shows there were 121 railroad accidents and incidents, 15 deaths and 77 injuries over the past 10 years in Ford Bend County, FortBendNow research shows that in the last five years, the railroads’ safety record has improved dramatically.

In Fort Bend County between January 2003 and October 2008, according to the FRA’s data, there were 28 accidents, eight injuries and no deaths.

Still, the records indicate local railroad crossings can be dangerous, especially if motorists fail to exercise a minimum of caution.

In the most recent incident the FRA recorded at the Murphy Road/U.S. 90A railroad crossing, for instance, a man pulled his pickup onto the tracks on the evening of Oct. 15, 2007, and stopped, even though the warning lights were on and the crossing gates came down.

According to a “Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Accident/Incident Report,” the man sat there inside his pickup until a 99-car Union Pacific freight train, carrying unspecified hazardous materials, slammed into him at 39 miles per hour, causing $5,000 in damage to the truck.

The driver was injured, but survived, and no hazardous materials were dispersed.

No injuries were recorded in the four accidents at the Stafford Road railroad crossing over the past five years. However, on the night of Feb. 12, 2006, a man drove his car around a crossing gate after it had come down, and hsi vehicle was hit by a 109-car Union Pacific freight train moving at 35 miles per hour.

The driver was reportedly uninjured, except possibly by his mechanic’s bill – the train caused $6,000 in damage to his car.

Third on the list of Fort Bend’s most dangerous railroad crossings is also just off of U.S. 90a – at Dairy Ashford Road in Sugar Land. Three accidents have been recorded by the FRA there over the past five years, one in 2006 and two in 2007.

Since 2003, just two other railroad crossings in the county have been the site of more than a single accident. One is at Masterson Road and FM 521 in Arcola; the other, another crossing just off of U.S. 90A – this one at South Gessner Road near Stafford.

In two incidents – one at the Arcola crossing in July of 2005 and the other at the South Gessner crossing in June of 2006 – vehicle drivers pulled behind trains that had just passed the crossing, only to be struck by a second train coming the other way. In both cases, the drivers were injured but survived, and each of their vehicles sustained about $2,000 in damage.

The most costly train/vehicle accident in the last five years occurred April 27, 2007, at yet another crossing just off U.S. 90A – this one at Harlem Road, between Richmond and Sugar Land.

According to the FRA report, and this reporter, who witnessed the aftermath, the 37-year-old male driver of an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer rig had attempted to cross the elevated tracks just north of a traffic signal at U.S. 90A.

But the long trailer was unable to clear the raised tracks, and the rig teetered there, unable to move, as an oncoming Kansas City Southern train carrying 81 cars approached.

The engineer “placed the train into emergency,” but was unable to stop it in time, and it slammed into the 18-wheeler at 50 miles per hour.

The driver was able to escape before impact, but the wreck caused $100,000 in damage to the tractor-trailer.