Jefferson County was rated as the seventh most dangerous county in Texas for railway safety in a report released Thursday by The Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association.

The report, “Dangerous Dozen: Rail Safety in Texas,” lists the 12 most dangerous counties in Texas based on the number of freight and passenger rail accidents and incidents reported from 1998 through 2007. According to the report, Texas ranks No. 1 for train-vehicle collisions and deaths at rail crossings of all 50 states.

Though the statistics include all of Jefferson County, the port city and railway mecca of Port Arthur has gone years without too many incidents involving trains and vehicles, according to Port Arthur Police Chief Mark Blanton.

“This is a ten year study, but in recent years I just don’t remember any traffic related train incidents, or cases of cars crashing into trains, to any great extent in Port Arthur,” Blanton said.

“However, we did have a train derailment involving a tanker car near Highway 347 back in October of 2007,” Blanton recalled.

“It was great incovienience — we had to re-route traffic for several days, but there were no motor vehicles involved. In fact, that’s the first train derailment we’ve had in Port Arthur in years.”

The “Dangerous Dozen” Texas Counties are, in ascending order: Bell, Fort Bend, Potter, Brazoria, Cameron, Jefferson, El Paso, Webb, Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant, and Harris.

Port Arthur was founded by railroad giant Arthur Stilwell, and today Stilwell’s Kansas City Southern Railway Company still flows through Jefferson County like a track of veins shipping the industrial life supply in and out of area ports.

“The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCSR) actively promotes public safety in all of the communities that it operates in and has done so successfully for many years,” KCSR spokeperson C. Doniele Kane said.

“Actually, crossing collisions involving KCSR in Jefferson County are trending down from eight in 2004 to only three in 2008. KCS continues to strive to eliminate grade crossing collisions, including working closely with TxDOT to review crossings and upgrade traffic control where TxDOT experts indicate the need to do so.”

“The reduction in collisions between 2004 and 2008 shows we are having success.”

In an area with a high volume of rail traffic, the county’s ranking in this study is not suprising, says State Representative of the 22nd District Joe Deshotel.

“I’m not suprised,” Deshotel said, “But I think a lot of it has to do with the amount of rail traffic we have, and that’s largely due to the nature of our area’s industry.”

Deshotel, who has sat on the Texas State Committee on Transportation since 2005, says area officials have done much to ensure the safety of motorists at crossings by keeping lighted systems and electronic crossing arms updated. Rural crossings that aren’t frequented by high volumes of traffic don’t warrant such safety measures and the responsibility of making sure the crossings are clear is up to the motorists.

Much of the area’s infrastructure comes through Jefferson County by area ports, which are some of the largest in the nation, says Deshotel. Combine that with I-10, one of the county’s largest traffic cooridors, and the potential for the number of incidents increases.