Gov. Jared Polis declared Tuesday that the week of Sept. 15 through 21 is “see track? think train” week in Colorado, as part of an effort to educate residents on train safety.
According to a news release from the Colorado Department of Transportation, there were 46 train-car collisions across Colorado in 2024, resulting in 24 injuries and one death. Already in 2025, there have been 32 crashes that have killed two people and injured five.
Mark Ramsey, safety and regulatory compliance manager at American Heritage Railways, the company that owns the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, said the railroad is partnering with Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit that aims to educate drivers on railroad safety. The key thing Operation Lifesaver tries to get people to take away from their message is to be extra vigilant when crossing railroad tracks.
“Whether you’re a motorist or pedestrian, expect a train on any track from either direction at any time,” Ramsey said. “Always make sure there’s no trains coming before you cross the track.”
Operation Lifesaver has been around since 1972, Ramsey said. Back then, a bunch of railroad employees in Idaho noticed an uptick in train-car collisions, and realized that they needed to increase their outreach to help people learn about railroad safety.
“They were having a lot of problems in 1972 with an increase in both injuries and fatalities of highway railway gate crossings by motorists,” Ramsey said. “There’s not much you can do when somebody drives in front of a several 100-ton train. And so these guys got together, and they found out that a lot of people didn’t know anything about railroads or how railroads worked.”
Ramsey said a group of railway operators started getting in touch with drivers education programs, schools and rotary clubs around the country to teach people about best practices when crossing tracks. Eventually, the Federal Railroad Administration started funding the efforts, which organized as a nonprofit under the name of Operation Lifesaver.
“Within a year, the incidents dropped dramatically,” Ramsey said.
According to Operation Lifesaver’s website, railroad collisions have decreased 81% since 1972, from more than 12,000 that year nationwide to only 2,260 in 2024. Still, collisions occur, which is why the state, Operation Lifesaver and railroads like D&SNG are working to improve their public safety education.
Ramsey said it takes the average freight train traveling 55 mph more than a mile, or the length of 18 football fields, to completely stop. Additionally, a train’s only means of stopping are steel wheels on a steel rail, with the contact point of each wheel being roughly the size of a dime. And, by law, trains always have the right of way, meaning that a train collision is the responsibility of the driver, pedestrian, bicyclist or motorcyclist, according to this week’s news release.
“It takes a long time to stop a train,” Ramsey said. “Of course, here in Durango, we’re going slower. We’re not going that fast, and we don’t have those long freight trains, but it’s still a lot of mass.”
To continue lowering the number of collisions between trains and cars, Ramsey reminded drivers to come to a complete stop and look both ways to ensure a train is not coming before going over a railway, regardless of whether a gate is present.