MetroRail troubles with crossing gates

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A train horn is the last sound drivers want to hear as railroad-crossing gates go up. But, that is one of the malfunctions happening at a Capital Metro rail crossing in Northwest Austin.

"Sometimes the crossings will go down and there is no train," said Rome's Pizza owner Ken Wetta, who can see the train crossing from his business on Parmer Lane just north of SH-45.

Wetta said the train signals have malfunctioned for months, ever since the Capital Metro trains started to roll through the intersection. Wetta said he has called the City of Austin, Capital Metro and the Federal Railroad Administration, to no avail.

"It works fine for a couple of days and then it malfunctions again," said Wetta.

One of the malfunctions happened Thursday, when Wetta and his workers said they saw the MetroRail train go through the intersection. The gates went back up, he said. But seconds later, the gates went down and stayed closed for at least 45 minutes. The Austin Police Department said two callers voiced their concerns with 911. APD records specialist Helena Putnam said four callers have called 911 about the intersection within the past 30 days.

Another malfunction happened Friday, when the gates were down for four minutes and 19 seconds, after a train rolled through.

"We've had some occurrences at that railroad crossing and a few others," said Capital Metro spokesman Adam Shaivitz. "Particularly over the last few weeks, as we've had a lot of severe weather and hail and lightning storms in the area."

Shaivitz said a process called "shunting" is where the train completes a full circuit with the track triggers crossings to go up or down. He said a lightning strike during the March 25 hail storms are causing issues with the crossings.

"Often times when lightning strikes on the rail, we have things in place that will minimize a surge that will zap some of the equipment," Shavitz said.

However, he said, the surge equipment may not have caught the lightning strikes he claims are causing the problems.

Capital Metro experienced malfunctioning crossings earlier this year during a demonstration with the APD. Shaivitz said a misplaced sign put in place by the City of Austin caused wiring to malfunction, bringing crossing gates down on top of cars, and said it was an anomaly.

Wetta said he has seen the malfunctions happening at for at least six months. Shaivitz admitted Capital Metro is still trying to work out its "shunting" issues that caused delays with the MetroRail's scheduled opening for March 30.

Wetta hopes for something to happen soon to fix the problem, seeing it as a safety problem, and a bust for his business.

"When that railroad crossing malfunctions we lose would be customers," said Wetta. "Get the train up and going and fix the crossings."