Train Whistle Bill Back On Track

Legislature

It’s beginning to sound like the little bill that could.

After voting 60-38 Wednesday to kill a measure allowing Spokane County to ban the blowing of train whistles at gated railroad crossings, the state House of Representatives reconsidered Thursday night and unanimously passed an amended version.

The bill that passed allows the county to ban the train whistles as long as the crossings conform to federal standards, which include setting up barriers to prevent motorists from getting around the rail arms and onto the tracks.

Under the amended version, the federal government can step in and prevent the whistle-free zone under a special emergency order if officials believe the crossings are not safe.

If the bill wins approval of the Senate and the governor, it may lay the tracks for an end to the Valley’s train whistle woes. During Wednesday’s debate, Rep. Larry Crouse, R-Spokane Valley, joined other area lawmakers in trying to convince their colleagues that the trains are a serious nuisance in some areas.

“Valley residents are losing sleep, businesses are losing money,” said Crouse, who sponsored the bill.

A Senate version of the bill has passed out of committee and awaits a vote of the full body.

Safety concerns drove Wednesday night’s initial derailment of Crouse’s bill, as many lawmakers feared an increase in traffic accidents unless the crossings were brought up to federal standards.

“There will be accidents, there will be deaths and tragedies and we will be the ones who pay, and the railroads as well,” Rep. Mary Skinner, R-Yakima, said on Wednesday.

However, she joined 94 other representatives the next night in voting to pass the amended version.

Crouse and Rep. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, worked hard on Thursday to engineer support for an amended version of the bill that might prove more palatable to Burlington Northern Railroad, whose lobbying efforts helped kill original proposal.

Patrick Halstead, a lobbyist for Burlington Northern, said the railroad was only trying to protect itself and the county from lawsuits that train wrecks at unsafe crossings could produce.

“We’re not trying to do the county any harm,” Halstead said. “We’re trying to do them a favor.”

Although the issue is important to Valley residents, it has been a source of amusement to many lawmakers in the state Capitol who have seen the bill surface during each of the last four legislative sessions. Some House members gave their best train whistle imitations during debates Wednesday and Thursday.

Rep. Marlin Appelwick, D-Seattle, went one further Thursday, producing a small train whistle and tooting it in support of the bill.