Free train rides emphasize railroad safety

Union Pacific's heritage fleet will take passengers from the Mountain Home area on free rides June 18 as part of a statewide effort to raise public awareness regarding the potential dangers that exist around highway rail intersections and railroad right of ways.

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Seating is limited to 150 passengers with departures scheduled for 5, 6 and 7 p.m. that evening.

Tickets are available starting at 10 a.m. Monday, June 14, at Railroad Park near the caboose on display along North Main Street.

Part of Union Pacific's heritage fleet, the train features a coach car, two done liners, business car and locomotives on both ends. The passenger train will return passengers to their boarding location after each ride.

The statewide effort seeks to raise public awareness regarding the potential dangers that exist around highway rail intersections and railroad right of ways.

The organization remains dedicated "to eliminating senseless collisions, injuries and deaths at highway rail intersections," Idaho Operation Lifesaver officials said in a press announcement. The group urges all motorists to "look, listen and live" at these types of intersections.

In 2008, the state reported 2,391 collisions between motorists and trains that killed 286 people and injured 935 others. Trains also struck another 878 pedestrians during the same year, killing another 453 people.

So far this year, a local woman was seriously injured after a freight train collided with her truck May 19 north of Mountain Home.

For more information on Idaho Operation Lifesaver, call 208-236-5626.