Rail Fencing Program Is Urged for MTA

In an effort to curb fatalities along the Metrolink rail system, the L.A. City Council urged the Metrolink board to consider a comprehensive fencing program along rail lines.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who introduced the motion at a council meeting Wednesday, said a fencing project would be worth the expense.

“It’s really a budget item,” Alarcon said. “[Metrolink] just needs to take [funding] out of other items in order to do more. There is limited funding, I know, but it’s a matter of prioritizing, focusing their attention to this.”

Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo said the board will take its cue from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is expected to study the issue.

About 75% of the Metrolink lines in residential areas are already fenced, Hidalgo said, estimating it would cost about $7 million to fence the remaining sections.

He also said that while fences are a deterrent, they will not completely solve the problem because some people will climb over or cut the fence to get through.

“It would be naive to say fencing all 416 miles [of Metrolink track] is the solution,” he said. “‘Education is part of the answer, and we cannot neglect personal responsibility.”

In addition to a study of new fencing, the council also called for improved education efforts by Metrolink to keep pedestrians safe.

Finally, the City Council instructed the Department of Transportation to devise a plan showing which areas would be the best candidates for new fences in the city.

Alarcon said recent measures to keep people off the tracks and to help drivers move quickly through crossings have reduced accidents in his northeast Valley council district by 75%. Attention has been focused on this issue since two young Upland girls were killed last month by a train after wandering onto tracks near their home. Metrolink officials responded to that incident by fencing the area.