FAIRFIELD — There may be just one railroad police officer in Maine, but he and another officer surprised a number of drivers Tuesday morning with $165 tickets as part of an effort to prevent vehicles from crashing into trains.

Hundreds of people driving through the 40 mph zone on U.S. Route 201 in Hinckley between 10 a.m. and noon would have seen a black Ford Explorer parked near the railroad tracks that feed into Sappi Fine Paper.

Every time the red lights at the railroad crossing began to flash, indicating a train was approaching, the two railroad police officers waiting in the unmarked vehicle scanned the traffic.

When one van heading toward Skowhegan failed to come to a full stop at the tracks, while the red lights flashed around 10:20 a.m., Chief Tim Falvey and Patrolman Robert Murphy sped after the vehicle and pulled it over to the side of the road.

The driver, Uria Pelletier, 27, of Rome, was angry about the $165 summons for failing to stop at a railroad crossing and said it is too much to pay for a rarely enforced law, especially in the current economy.

“I know the law, and I abide it. If there’s a train coming, I’m not going to put anyone in danger,” he said. In his situation, he said, there was no train in sight, even though the lights were flashing. He also saw people standing on the tracks, he said, and assumed the railroad was under construction.

According to law, however, vehicles must always stop at a red flashing light, Falvey said. Drivers must then look both ways, make sure a train isn’t coming and proceed only if it’s safe. School buses and trucks carrying certain loads and weights must stop at every railroad crossing whether the lights are on or not.

Falvey, an employee of Boston & Maine Railroad Police, is the only railroad police officer certified in Maine, said John Rogers, director of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Falvey took an oath of office, administered by the commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, but the railroad is responsible for his compensation and the cost of training, according to state law. Fines, however, go to the Violations Bureau of the Maine Judicial Branch, in Lewiston.

Rogers did not know which state certified Murphy, but said railroad police officers from different states often aid each other in their work, because railroad tracks travel across state boundaries. Calls to Boston & Maine Railroad Police headquarters in Billerica, Mass., and its office in Waterville were not answered.

Falvey and Murphy were on U.S. Route 201 on Tuesday because of several recent near-accidents with trains, Falvey said. Falvey said the safety departments at Sappi and Pan Am Railways requested their presence in order to teach people to always stop at railroad tracks’ red flashing lights.

“There’s been a lot of close calls here,” Falvey said.

Pelletier said, however, that if railroad police on Tuesday had sought to educate people, they should have set up a safety checkpoint, pulled over every vehicle and told each driver the law.

“If it was for public safety, why weren’t they stopping everybody? Because behind me was a dozen other cars,” he said.

He said he was afraid other cars wouldn’t see him on the busy section of road if he stopped: “If somebody didn’t see your brake lights, they’re causing more problems.”

One railroad worker, Doug Clark, of Bristol, wasn’t in Fairfield on Tuesday but would like to put up signs at railroad crossings around Maine that say, “Look, listen, live,” he said.

Clark is a flagman for the Maine Eastern Railroad and has taken the coursework at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy to be a railroad police officer. He is also a volunteer with Operation Lifesaver, an organization that teaches people about the dangers of railroad crossing collisions and trespassing on railroad property.

“Railroad trespassing is the number one cause of rail-related deaths in the U.S., and crossing collisions are the number two cause of railroad-related deaths,” he said.

People are required by law to slow down as they cross train tracks and to look both ways, he said. “Very few people slow down like the law requires, and even fewer look both ways.”

Erin Rhoda — 474-9534

erhoda@centralmaine.com