January 7, 2019 at 3:56 p.m.
Rail crossing upgrades at Fox Ranch and County N delayed
Rail crossing upgrades at Fox Ranch and County N delayed
Upgrades to the crossing signals where the railroad crosses County Highway N in Woodboro and Fox Ranch Road in Crescent were originally slated to be finished by the end of 2018, but that deadline has since been pushed back until June, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads.
On Jan. 3, the agency that regulates state railroad lines issued second amended orders to its final decisions ordering the signal upgrades to be made, giving the railroad six months to finish installing the safety equipment.
The original final decision on the Fox Ranch Road crossing was made on Feb. 19, 2016 and ordered that Wisconsin Central "install and maintain lights with gates and constant warning time circuitry at the crossing of its tracks with Fox Ranch Road in the town of Crescent by December 31, 2017."
The order and deadline was extended in a first amended order on Dec. 31, 2018.
"It appears that the WCL has inadvertently failed within their internal administrative operations to authorize the purchase of the required materials to meet the deadline," the amended order states.
The Highway N crossing was also supposed to be done by the end of 2018, but an extension was granted by the commission to allow the railroad time to finish the "installation of new power service and insulated joints."
The railroad noted in its request the new signals are in place but won't be operational until they have electricity.
The latest extension gives Wisconsin Central until June 1, 2019 to have the signals functioning at both locations.
In the original order for both crossings, a report of a commission investigator found the sight lines in both directions down the tracks did not allow a motorist stopped at the crossing to see a train approaching at 35 mph.
In addition, there was no way to clear 785 feet in each direction to make the Fox Ranch Road crossing or 300 feet needed at the Highway N crossing to make them safe without the automatic signals and gates.
The final decision on the Fox Ranch Road crossing gave it an exposure factor of 708.
"The exposure factor equals the product of the number of trains per day and the number of highway vehicles per day, which yields a numerical value for the potential conflicts each day at the crossing," the finding reads. "Three train-vehicle accidents have occurred at this crossing since 1973. The crashes occurred in 2011, 2011, and 2014, and involved one injury."
The exposure factor at the Highway N crossing is 980, according to the final decision.
That crossing has seen one train-vehicle since 1973, the order notes. That accident occurred in 1979 with no reported injuries.
While the railroad has to pay for the new signals and the cost of installing them, it will be repaid from state and federal safety funds.
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