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Metrolink soon will kick off a grade crossing safety improvement program targeting 57 crossings along 65 track miles on the agency’s Ventura County and Antelope Valley lines.

Under a “sealed corridor” concept, the agency will install four-quadrant gates, longer gate arms, “Z” pedestrian crossings, median separators, and locked gates or right-of-way fencing.

Since implementing a sealed corridor program several years ago, the state of North Carolina’s crossing violations have declined 86 percent at crossings with four-quad gates, 84 percent at crossings with longer gate arms and 77 percent at crossings with median separators.

Metrolink will be the first commuter railroad to apply the concept in a densely populated urban setting with heavy highway and rail traffic, the agency said.

The fiscal-year 2006 federal transportation appropriations bill provides Metrolink $3 million to improve crossings. The agency currently is seeking additional federal and state funds to complete the program, which will begin in the city of Simi Valley.