It is now mandatory in Michigan for whistle posts to be erected and maintained by railroads at highway-rail grade-crossings throughout the state.
The new law was enacted and signed by the governor following efforts of UTU Michigan State Legislative Director Jerry Gibson, working with the BLET.
Gibson began pushing for the new law after the FRA, in 2005, eliminated a federal regulation requiring whistle posts and their maintenance.
"Instead of using a distance marker, they chose to use a time element," Gibson said. Thus, many railroads would not replace the old signage once they became in disrepair. At one time, my BLET counterpart and I had a list of more than 30 that were in need of replacing, and the railroads refused or were very lackadaisical to do so."
The new law provides that "A railroad shall erect and maintain a whistle post in advance of a public crossing or multiple consecutive crossings to notify the engineer of an approaching public crossing."
Cy doesn't know about the carriers but when Cy gets out in the fog, one of the many important things Cy looks for are whistle posts. Haven't seen any decline in maintenance of them here but Cy did discover several years ago that MofW didn't share Cy's opinion as tu the importance of whistle posts.
