Citing the need for increased education and public awareness of railroad safety, Governor Greg Abbott recently signed legislation naming July as Train Safety Awareness Month in Texas. And Union Pacific Spokesman Jeff DeGraff couldn’t be more delighted.
He says it gives them a “hook,” a reason to get this message out so that people will pay attention to it. Because trains are such a big part of Texas, he muses, sometimes we stop paying attention to them.
Such a part of Navasota, in fact, that Union Pacific proclaimed it, “Train Town USA.” Both U.P. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe cut through Navasota, and DeGraff says that’s part of the problem. The tracks run through town because they were there first and the town grew up around them, he says. And sometimes people don’t realize how often they do come through, or how fast they are going.
But so far as being safe around train crossings is concerned, DeGraff says it’s easy, if you keep two key phrases in mind:
One is “Always expect a train.” The other is “Your life is worth the wait.”
There’s a whole section about being safe around trains on the front page of Union Pacific’s website, up.com. Just scroll down to the 2016 Building America Report, and click on “Safety.”