Kansas City Southern has announced plans to install reflector strips on the side sill of all its 482 locomotives to improve visibility.
The project, which would begin June 3 and conclude in September, will be handled by KCS' mechanical departments in Kansas City, Mo., and Shreveport, La.
The railroad currently adds reflectors to locomotives' head, ditch and step-well lights, and hand railings, but KCS officials believe motorists still have difficulty seeing a train's front in the dark.
KCS' grade-crossing collision statistics since 1992 show that 12 percent were the result of an automobile colliding with a train somewhere between the first and tenth units of a train, and 36 percent were at crossings with active warning devices.
Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News
