TOWNS PROTEST TRAIN SPEEDS

Residents in Holland have begun a campaign to keep Burlington Northern trains from running 55 miles an hour through town.

And, efforts are also under way in other Southeast Missouri communities to halt the railroad's proposal to increase speeds in their towns.

In Oran, where trains have run through town at 55 mph, residents worry about the speed. Last May, a man was killed when a train collided with his vehicle at a crossing.

Burlington Northern had notified Holland, Steele and Portageville in mid-December that trains would start going 55 mph through their towns beginning April 1.

The railroad also is seeking to make its 20 mph stretches in Hayti, Lilbourn and Sikeston shorter.

Burlington Northern would still slow down for those towns, but could resume its 55 mph sooner after leaving the restricted zones.

The railroad made its request last summer with the state's Division of Transportation in Missouri's Department of Economic Development.

The division's railroad safety engineer, Richard T. Mooney, said his division regulates railroad safety in the state, particularly in relation to grade crossings.

The division approved the railroad's request for Holland after doing traffic counts and checking safety factors, such as sight distance and types of warning devices, Mooney said.

The division made counterproposals Jan. 13 for the other five towns involved.

The division's proposal for Holland included closing two crossings on gravel streets, leaving only the state highway crossing in the town.

Residents in Holland, a town of 300 five miles north of the Arkansas line, reacted immediately.

Councilwoman Deborah Rowe-Jackson called the proposal "ridiculous," adding: "The folks here don't like it at all."

Many of the residents have sent letters opposing the faster trains.

Holland's city hall, post office, water tower and water plant all are next to the track, and town officials are concerned about whether water lines are buried deep enough to withstand the additional shaking from the higher speed.

Other concerns come from several homes and a fertilizer plant along the track.

The city park is next to the railroad track, which has a curve in it before reaching town, Rowe-Jackson said. A derailment there could injure a lot of people.

"Obviously, most of the townsfolk feel the same way," she said. "If there's anything possible that we can do about this, we will."

Holland Mayor Jerry King said letters and phone calls are starting to draw attention to the problem.

He talked to the office of Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, several times last week. He also talked with Mooney and members of his division.

King said he has started working with the city attorney to appeal Burlington Northern's proposal.

After the appeal, if the railroad and communities don't agree on the speed, a division administrative law judge will hold a hearing and decide the matter, Mooney said.

"We knew that if we didn't do something, the 55 mph was going to happen," King said.

Mooney has scheduled a meeting with Holland city officials, the railroad and his division for late February to discuss the proposed changes.

But his staff only can make recommendations regarding railroad safety. The power to enforce changes lies with the administrative law judges.

Burlington's Northern proposal for a 55 speed limit in Steele and Portageville also met opposition.

"We're strictly opposed to the proposal," Steele Mayor Eddie Jarboe said. "We have businesses and homes on both sides of the tracks."

His town is gathering information to block the faster trains and he hoped to organize a letter-writing campaign.

In Steele, the Division of Transportation's counterproposal said the railroad would have to decrease to 20 mph for .3 mile, half the distance it now runs at 20 mph.

The division didn't recommend that any crossings be closed, however.

Henry Maclin, a Portageville alderman, said the whole town board is opposed to trains going faster than 30 mph through the city. The city attorney has been contacted, but local officials didn't know yet whether they could stop the proposal.

Even though Burlington Northern proposed going 55 through Portageville, the Division of Transportation's counterproposal suggested speeds as low as 33 mph near the city's primary crossing. The division also suggested five crossings be upgraded to flashing lights and crossbars and that two crossings be closed.

In Oran, Alderman Tom Seyer told of legitimate concerns with the increased train speed through town.

Oran has three crossings, only one of which is marked with flashing lights. The other crossings on local streets have only railroad crossbuck signs.

The May death of the 70-year-old Oran man was the fourth fatality at that unmarked railroad crossing since 1957. The most recent death before the May fatality was a pedestrian in 1982.