Oceanside, Carlsbad police to monitor rail crossings as part of nationwide railroad safety effort

Oceanside and Carlsbad police officers will take part this week in a nationwide railroad safety operation aimed at reducing deaths and injuries near tracks and trains.

Rail Safety Week begins Monday across the country, and Oceanside police will be taking part in Operation Clear Track throughout the week, according to department officials. Carlsbad police will participate Tuesday.

The goal of Rail Safety Week is to raise awareness of the importance of making safe choices near railroad tracks, while the nationwide Operation Clear Track aims to reduce the roughly 2,000 serious injuries and deaths each year around railroad tracks and trains.

On average, a train strikes a person or vehicle every three hours across the U.S., according Rachel Maleh, executive director of Operation Lifesaver Inc.

“Operation Clear Track is an important annual initiative to help save lives and keep our communities safe,” D. Samuel Dotson, Amtrak’s chief of police, said in a news release.

During Operation Clear Track, Oceanside and Carlsbad police officers — like their counterparts in areas across the country — will be stationed near “high-incident railroad grade crossings” in those cities. There, they will “share safety tips and enforce crossing and trespassing laws as well as write citations and warnings to violators.”

“Good safety habits around railroad tracks are essential,” Carlsbad police Lt. Steve Thomas said. “Carlsbad is no exception, and our mission is to increase awareness and safety and decrease the potential for tragedy.”

Since the start of 2017, there have been at least 14 collisions involving trains in Oceanside, and at least 13 in Carlsbad. Nearly all of those collisions involved pedestrians, though a bicyclist was struck and killed in September 2019 in Carlsbad, and a pickup driver was struck and badly injured in April 2020 in Oceanside.

In all but one of the train-pedestrian collisions in Oceanside, the pedestrian died at the scene. In September 2020, a man was hit by a slow-moving train and taken to a hospital. The most recent train collision in Oceanside occurred July 17, when a freight train struck and killed a pedestrian near Oceanside Boulevard in the south of the city. In April 2019, two people were struck and killed by trains within a three-day span in the city.

The most recent train collision in Carlsbad occurred July 26, when a man was struck and killed by a northbound Amtrak Surfliner near Carlsbad Village Station. At least 12 of the 13 people hit by trains since 2017 in Carlsbad have died. In May 2017, a man was struck and seriously injured, but expected to survive.

City News Service contributed to this report.