Safer tracks Tom Bailey, Fresno Thanks to Russell Clemings for his article May 6, "Slow track of progress," outlining the dangers of our many railroad crossings here in the Central Valley. I can only add that Ray Santini Jr. (who, as pointed out in the article, was killed trying to beat an oncoming train by driving around guardrails at the Herndon Avenue crossing of the Union Pacific tracks) would more than likely still be alive today had politicians and lawmakers stayed on track (no pun intended) after the completion of the 1993 study on Rail Consolidation in Fresno. The results of that study stated that "rail consolidation" of the Santa Fe tracks (now Burlington Northern Santa Fe) along the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) corridor paralleling Highway 99 in Fresno was not only feasible but highly recommended as well. That crossing at Herndon where Mr. Santini lost his life would have been grade-separated along with several more along the Highway 99 corridor. The 33 grade crossings of the Santa Fe tracks in the heart of Fresno would have been totally removed, thereby eliminating the dangers that exist today due to the 405,000-plus vehicle crossings that occur daily in Fresno on the BNSF tracks alone. Thanks to the efforts of many groups and organizations, that feasibility study done in 1993 is in the process of being updated and efforts to arrange funding along local, state, and federal levels for rail consolidation are well under way. Hopefully, this time, it won't get "side tracked." Fresno Bee, The (CA) Published May 15, 2001 Section: LOCAL NEWS Page B6 All content © The Fresno Bee and may not be republished without permission. Send comments or questions to newslib@infi.net All archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper library system from MediaStream Inc., a Knight-Ridder Inc. company.