Rail Crossings Out in the Valley: The Rules and the Blue Sign

Freight and passenger lines cut across the Central Valley and the Delta at crossing after crossing, many of them on farm roads with a crossbuck and nothing else. Trains are long, heavy and slow to stop, and a crossing you have used a thousand times without seeing one is exactly where complacency sets in.

What the law requires at a crossing

Vehicle Code section 22451 applies to railroad and rail transit crossings alike, which includes light rail in Sacramento. When a signal device or a flagman warns of a train, or a train is plainly visible or sounding its horn close enough to be an immediate hazard, you must stop no less than 15 feet from the nearest rail and wait until you can cross safely. Under the same section, no one may go through, around or under a crossing gate while it is closed.

Section 22526, the Anti-Gridlock Act, adds two rules that matter on rural crossings. You may not enter a crossing unless there is room on the far side for your vehicle, and you may not enter unless your vehicle has enough undercarriage clearance to cross without getting stuck. A green light or an open gate does not override either one.

Why the truck ahead stops at every crossing

If a school bus, a farm labor van or a tanker stops at a crossing with no train in sight, it is following the law, not holding you up. Section 22452 requires buses and farm labor vehicles carrying passengers, school buses, trucks carrying workers in back, placarded hazardous-materials trucks and cargo tank vehicles to stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest rail, look and listen in both directions, and only then cross. Leave room behind them and never try to pass one at a crossing.

Humped crossings and low cars

Many farm-road crossings sit on a raised bed, and the road climbs sharply over the rails. Lowered cars, long trailers and loaded vehicles can high-center on the crown, which is precisely the situation the undercarriage rule in section 22526 is about. Look at the crossing before you commit. If you are towing, cross at a steady crawl and do not stop on the tracks to check.

If you stall or get stuck on the tracks

The California Public Utilities Commission, which inspects crossings statewide, gives the order of operations:

1. Get out immediately and move everyone away from the tracks. Do not stay in the car trying to restart it.
2. Find the blue and white ENS sign, usually on the crossing warning device.
3. Call the emergency number on it so the railroad can be warned.
4. Give the crossing identification number shown on the sign.

The same sign is how you report gates stuck down with no train coming, or warning lights that are not working. If you cannot find a sign, call 911.

Insurance after a crossing crash

A car hit by a train is very often a total loss, and only collision coverage pays for your own vehicle in that situation; liability-only pays nothing toward it. Injuries to the people in your car fall to medical payments coverage if you carry it and to health insurance. If your car caused damage to railroad property or a train, that becomes a liability claim, and it is one of the places where state-minimum limits can run out fast. If anyone was hurt, or damage to any one person's property was over $1,000, the driver also owes the DMV an SR-1 report within 10 days.

A gate arm that comes down on your hood or roof is a smaller problem but still a claim question; how your insurer classifies it varies by insurance company. If you cross rail lines every day, it is worth knowing what your policy would do, and you can get your coverage reviewed quickly.