Proposal to crack down on trains that block traffic

From the Rapid City (SD) Journal. Some "interesting" comments below the story.
Rapid City Journal Article
Yesterday the Edgemont trainmaster made some smart remark about this story.... as my train blocked the west crossing in Edgemont as my hogger 203'ed the DP's. Figured I would post the article and see what y'all think.
Adam

 

Adam, I have no experience working in railroading, so please forgive me if I make an absurd or ignorant statement. However, over the years CSX has had similar blocked crossing incidences here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In many cases where a train was going to be delayed for a long period the crew broke the train at every crossing so traffic could move. CSX has 138 crossings on the Coast, about 75 of which are in the 26 miles of Harrison County alone. This courtesy has happened often enough that I began to assume it may have been company policy.

 

I'm like Hank that trains around here that would block any major street crossing for long periods of time also break up to allow traffic to flow. I don't know if it something that is already required or done by company policy. At the same time the cities have worked towards reducing the number of street crossing where it was feasible to do so. The worse issue for blocked crossings is medical emergencies so I agree that this should be done by the trains if there is a long delay that would block crossings over large areas of a city.

:tb-nerd: :tb-nerd: :tb-nerd: :tb-nerd:
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Keep the comments coming, I have to get some sleep so I can go to work...sometime. When I get back (from Edgemont) I will give you all my veiws on this article.
(Right hand raised) I swear I will try not to block any crossings in South Dakota for more that the alloted amount of time, so help me BNSF. LOL

Adam

 

Those comments are precious. I hope BNSF lawyers those guys to heck and back.

I mean I'm all for overpasses and easing grade crossing issues in general, but that's just a cheap copout to avoid paying.

 

Actually, in South Africa, there are some electrics that carry a motorcycle for the crew. I doubt it's for this purpose, as I think those engines run mostly in rather remote areas.

 

Just what I was going to say.

 

Yes that is very true and why I think we are only talking when the train would be stopped for a serious amount of time that the effort would be the responsible thing to do.

:thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:
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So...the dispatcher orders me to stop with a crossing blocked, to refuse is insubordination and there's a good chance of being charged, or go ahead and block the road and get a ticket from the local police. As usual...let's put it all in the crew's lap and dodge the issue altogether.

 

Those almost smart folks need to find out how railroads operate, since the crew has no control over where they stop or for how long. The idea of arresting the crew and getting the union involved will surely come back n bit the towns in their backsides. This is just some more not-in-my-backyard.
Wasn’t there was a thread last fall about a crew getting arrested for blocking a crossing and refusing to move? I can’t remember the details, but it had something to with a small town festival.
inch

 

Larkspur Colorado to be specific, about 30+ miles or so from my house

Actually it's not such a small festival and the train blocking the crossing was placing people lives at risk and causing issue on I-25 by then. One would have had to drive about 20+ miles to get around it and that took local knowledge of the roads which most coming from DENVER, C-Springs, F-Collins, etc. wouldn't have. If someone needed emergency medical asstance they would have died before help could get to them as the roads were 100% block by stuck traffic at the town's main enterence. I'm surprised there wasn't a massive pileup on the highway before the train moved out of the crossing.

IMHO (and I understand the tough situation this places you in but) when a Law Enforcement Officer tells you to do something it's best that you do it. You can try the middle ground and ask the Enforcement Officer tell the dispatcher (which then might put the dispatcher into the legal violdation) but in the end it's your neck.

I can tell you here in the DENVER Metro area that trains do not block major intersections for long periods of time. They either move or they break up the train and we are taking about BNSF & UP Coal trains with 100+ cars on them. The city on the flip side has closed several minor crossing and put in some overpasses so there are long sections of track they can stop on in places within the city itself.

I feel for the RR Crews in this as they are truly caught in the middle... :tb-err:

 

The BNSF is constantly getting tickets from the City of Berwyn IL for blocking crossings.
These are for trains entering Cicero Yard. The crews may have outlawed or there may be
something going on in the yard that is causing a delay. This is on the 3MT "Racetrack".
I have been on a dogcatch crew several times because a crew "croaked" before entering
the yard.
Another anecdote... It was almost a "systems Special Instructions" entry that trains were NOT to block "OBEE'S" crossing in E.Dubuque,IL. "OBEE'S" is/was a conglomerate
of a gin mill, auto repair,seraglio(alleged)and you-name-it. OBEE himself was dead but his son was running the show and he was also some high mucky-muck with the county
or municipality,whatever... Unfortunately if the board dropped unexpectedly on you, there was a good likelihood that you would block the daggone crossing. It happened to me one night(actually 2:30AM)and doancha know I blocked the crossing. However the
board cleared rather quickly and I was able to get moving again. Nothing ever happened
nor was anything said about it. So I got one of my "notches" in my engineer's belt early
on in my brief engineer career.

 

Let me ask this question, is there something in the books in City of Berwyn that states how long is to long and what the RR Crew is to do once that time is reached?​

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Here in Kentucky the limit for blocking crossings is 5 minutes. Indiana has a 10 minute limit. I just always find it funny that people develop around tracks and then act as if they've always owned the place but hey, what can I say, that mindset has been around since 1492.

 

It seems to me this is an odd issue. Most places grew up around the train tracks, not the other way around. The railroads own the land they are on, in most cases, and can do pretty much anything they want. They are allowing the cities to cross their track. The fact that some do practice breaking the trains apart seems extremely generous to me.

I hate to say but if I owned a railroad it would not be up to me to make the traffic concessions. Go under it or over it would be my response.

I would have the police arrested by my own security if they were on my property trying to give out tickects to my crews. Afterall they would be trespassing on private land that has its own security. As far as I am concerned that would be akin to hampering my railroads ability to do its job and then doesn't Government even have a say? I would probably have lawyers in DC lobbying and putting pressure on to get this sort of nonsense stopped.

 

Here is something else that would be kind of fun if I owned a railroad and had to deal with stuff like this. At the major crossings in the town I was having issues with I would set up a camera and have a man there making counts of every car that crossed over my land. At the end of the month I would present the city with a bill for the use based on how many cars passed over.

Hmmmm....If they didn't like it I wounder what would happen then if I put a permanent block at each crossing.