Metro adding color to its trains to improve safety

A crosswalk sign is posted near the Metro light rail station platform along the purple line at the Elgin/Third Ward station on July 11. A crosswalk sign is posted near the Metro light rail station platform along the purple line at the Elgin/Third Ward station on July 11. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Metro adding color to its trains to improve safety 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Metro has the blues – and reds – in hopes of getting people to give their trains a second look.

Pending approval by its board, scheduled for Thursday, Metropolitan Transit Authority is planning to spend $326,000 to affix a new more colorful pattern to the front of all its light rail vehicles. The upcoming work builds on previous jobs adding the decals to 19 of the 71 trains, which occurred after two high-profile incidents where bicyclists pedaled in front of oncoming trains.

“They do make the trains more visible,” said Metro board member Jim Robinson, who leads the agency’s public safety committee.

Metro trains are gray, a decision made when the Red Line opened in 2004 in an effort to make sure the trains did not look like the transit agency’s red, white and blue buses. That decision, however, has a downside in terms of safety, officials said.

“It blends in with the urban canopy,” Robinson said, comparing them with the newly-colored railcars. “These stand out now.”

Photo: Metropolitan Transit Authority Metro is planning to use more colors and reflective striping to...

Rice University physics professor Marjorie Corcoran was killed Feb. 3 at Hermann Park and Sunset when she rode her bike in front of a southbound train.

Two days later, Bilal Muslim, 60, was struck as he pedaled his bicycle along the light rail tracks near Loop 610 as the Super Bowl was going on nearby.

The deaths built on a common refrain from critics that the at-grade system is unsafe, especially in places where pedestrians and vehicles cross the tracks.

The incidents, and media attention, spurred Metro to re-evaluate a number of its safety efforts. Transit officials met with Rice and cycling advocates, and painted warnings and hung signs urging cyclists and pedestrians to pass with care. Train operators were also instructed to blow their horn when approaching stations, an increase from a bell signal that was typical with station arrivals.

Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Officials from Metropolitan Transit Aurthority, Rice University,...

Metro is looking at similar improvements at other locations, notably near schools where student crossings are common.

Adding colorful decals to trains builds on that, officials said. Since adding the colored fronts to some of the trains, officials estimate a 25 to 30 percent reduction in collisions, said Andy Skabowski, the transit agency’s chief operations officer.

If approved, all of the trains could have the new blue and red designs on each end by the end of October. A contractor applies the decals, though Metro maintenance workers can make minor repairs.

The proposed contract includes wraps for 61 trains, which gives Metro nine spare sets of decals for repairs to the 71 light rail vehicles. Metro operates three different models of light rail vehicles.