Saratoga News

News

Pedestrian railroad crossing ordered closed

By Shannon Burkey

A popular pedestrian railroad crossing at Lido Way and Guava Court has been ordered closed because the California Public Utilities Commission says it's unsafe.

City officials have been trying for years to make the necessary improvements to the crossing, which is owned by Union Pacific Railroad Co., only to be met with problem after problem on the railroad's end, preventing it from making any repairs.

Some of the issues surrounding the crossing date back to 1979. At that time, the railroad was owned by Southern Pacific Railroad, and the CPUC asked Saratoga to obtain an easement and make the required safety improvements.

"All our documents show that at that time, the city executed every document required to procure the easement and the necessary approval requirements to make improvements," said public works director John Cherbone.

Although Cherbone and most of today's city staff did not work for the city then, they have documents to prove the city did its part.

Cherbone said the city does not know exactly what happened after that, but it looks as if the railroad failed to execute the documents on its end. Then the issue fell by the wayside for 22 years.

The city didn't hear from CPUC or the railroad, now UPRR, about the issue again until 2002.

"At that time, CPUC decided to do a random inspection of the line in Saratoga and said the railroad crossing was substandard and doesn't meet their safety regulations," Cherbone said. "They asked us to close it, but we didn't want to do that--we wanted to do the improvements."

The city sent a questionnaire to residents in the area of the crossing to find out how much use it got and whether residents wanted to keep it. The questionnaires came back overwhelmingly in support of keeping the crossing open.

"It's a natural connection to two sides of Saratoga and a route a lot of kids use to get to Blue Hills Elementary School, and the residents want it open," Cherbone said.

Mayor Aileen Kao also reiterated the city's intent to keep the crossing open.

"It serves the purpose of the neighborhood. It's convenient for them and it's something we want to keep open for them," she said.

However, the city cannot do any improvements to the crossing until it owns the easement. Until recently the city thought it did own the site and had been negotiating the improvements with UPRR. But, not too long ago, the railroad informed the city that wasn't the case.

Now that CPUC is once again asking Saratoga to either make the necessary safety changes or close the crossing, the railroad has decided to follow thorough with what it says are orders from CPUC and close it.

"They have ordered us to post this area for closure, and that's what we're doing," said James Barnes, UPRR's director of media information. "Apparently, the city never received the appropriate permit to put the structure in, and at this point it's posing a safety issue. It's a tripping hazard, there is no wheelchair access, and there are no crossing markings. It's not in compliance with any rules and regulations for this type of crossing today."

According to Cherbone , the crossing has been in place for a long time, "probably since before Saratoga's inception."

All the city would like to do now is obtain the easement and make the improvements. Last week the city sent a formal letter to the railroad asking for the easement. But Cherbone said the city is not confident it will get it, and even if it does, it could cost the city a large sum of money.

When the city made improvements to the vehicle railroad crossing at Cox Avenue this year with grant money from Valley Transit Authority, the railroad charged them $116,000.

"We were trying to make improvements to their stuff, and they charged us $116,000 for the easement," Cherbone said. "The only way the city was able to do it was because we were able to get a second grant. But until then, we had to put the project on hold while we scrambled to find the money."

The city fears obtaining the rights to the pedestrian easement may turn out the same.

"They don't have any public interest in mind; they are a public money-making endeavor," Cherbone said. "We've always wanted to do what's right here, but we're not playing with people who are playing fair."

Barnes declined to answer questions about whether the city has been trying to negotiate the improvements with the railroad or whether they have ever inquired about obtaining the easement.