Florez lauds team effort for rail safety
Senator to commemorate installation of crossing arms at five deadly rural crossings

BAKERSFIELD -- Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) will mark the completion of long-awaited railroad crossing safety improvements Monday afternoon, presenting commemorative rail spikes to the agencies which worked together to make those upgrades possible.

In 2005, Florez formed the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Railroad Safety in the wake of multiple fatal accidents at rural Kern County crossings with no safety features such as crossing arms.  The Commission identified as some of the most dangerous the crossings along Highway 43 at Merced, Poplar, Peterson, Blankenship and Kratzmeyer and pledged to make a change.

Poplar, where seven farmworkers were killed in 2001, received flashing warning lights in 2005. Kratzmeyer, the scene of several deadly crashes near recently-opened Frontier High School, received crossing arms in 2007.  Today, all five rail crossings finally have crossing arms to prevent future tragedies.

In celebration of this milestone, Florez will present personalized rail spikes to the four agencies which worked hand-in-hand with the Blue Ribbon Commission to see this project through: Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Caltrans, the Public Utilities Commission and Kern County roads department.

"Rural crossings were too long overlooked when it came to the need for safety features urban communities take for granted, but traffic volume has nothing to do with the value of each and every life lost to these needless tragedies," Florez said.  "The agencies that worked together with us to make these changes possible have done a great service for the people of Kern County."

The presentation will be held on Monday at 2:00 p.m. where Merced Avenue crosses the BNSF railroad tracks.

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WHO:             Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter); representatives of BNSF, Caltrans, PUC and Kern County roads department

WHAT:           Presentation of rail spikes commemorating rural rail crossing safety improvements

WHEN:           Monday, November 16, 2009; 2:00 p.m.

WHERE:         Merced Avenue at the BNSF rail crossing