Fencing erected along Seward Highway after close calls between trains and trespassers

The Alaska Railroad is erecting a 6-foot fence along a popular Seward Highway turnout after what the railroad says has been a summer of brazen trespassing on the tracks.

Workers started putting up the 850 feet of cyclone fencing on Tuesday at the edge of the turnout at Mile 113.2 of the highway, south of the weigh station and north of McHugh Creek.  

Because of its expansive views and close proximity to the waters of Turnagain Arm, the narrow strip between the highway and the tracks at the turnout is a magnet for people viewing sunsets and taking photographs.

This summer, too many of them have been walking on the train tracks, said Alaska Railroad spokesman Tim Sullivan.

"It's an accident waiting to happen," he said. 

Several trains recently had to go into an emergency stop because of people on the tracks, according to Sullivan. It can take up to a mile for a train to halt fully.

A few weeks ago, people stayed on the tracks even as the train was honking and flashing lights at them,  he said.

"We had people who refused to get off the tracks for the oncoming train. The crew had to get off the train and get them off."

Sullivan called it "egregious trespassing" and said concern for the safety of people on the tracks as well as train crews and passengers and the risk of a derailment led the railroad to decide on the fencing.

No fencing is planned for other stretches of the highway the railroad considers trespassing hot spots — such as Beluga Point — at the moment, Sullivan said.

He didn't say whether the railroad had consulted with any outside stakeholders but did say the railroad had advised the Department of Transportation of its plan.

The Alaska Railroad owns the land on the tracks and in the "safety corridor" directly around them.

On July 23, an 85-year-old man who was walking his dog on tracks north of Seward was hit by an Alaska Railroad train.