(The Southern Illinoisan posted the following story by Christi Mathis on its website on May 1.)
DU QUOIN — The Canadian National Railway/Illinois Central Railroad has picked up a pair of citations in less than a month for blocking railroad crossings in the Du Quoin area although the railroad received just two citations in all of 2002.
But county and railroad officials agree it’s just a coincidence and not the result of any problem between the parties since the February hazardous materials train derailment in Tamaroa.
The first incident occurred April 2 at the Cherry Lake Road crossing along U.S. 51 at St. Johns north of Du Quoin. The Perry County Sheriff’s department responded and found the gates had been down at the crossing “in excess of an hour” said Assistant State’s Attorney Marty Beltz. State’s Attorney David Stanton said a railroad employee on the scene, Freddie R. Stearns of 194 Sapphire Road in Alto Pass, was asked by Deputy Earl Overton to remove a single rail car that was sitting on the sensor and thus keeping the crossing gates down.
Stearns declined to take action without railroad directives so officers issued a citation to the railroad office at 1550 N. Illinois Ave. in Carbondale for obstruction of grade crossing for longer than allowed and a citation to Stearns for failure to obey a police officer. Both were notices to appear and the court appearances are set for 9 a.m. May 13.
The railroad also received a citation April 18 when one of its trains blocked the Sunfield crossing north of Du Quoin along U.S. 51 for about 30 minutes. The Perry County Sheriff’s Department and Du Quoin police were on hand to issue that citation with notice to appear given and a 9 a.m. May 13 court date set.
By law, a train can block a grade crossing no more than 10 minutes. Citations are often written due to complaints from private citizens, school buses, or emergency vehicles if the crossings are blocked longer than allowed, officials said.
Although it’s just a petty offense, it can carry a stiff fine for the railroad according to the office of Perry County Circuit Clerk Nick Dolce. If a train blocks a crossing for more than 10 but less than 15 minutes, the fine is $200-$500 but the scale quickly escalates from there. For 15-20 minutes it’s $500 and then $700 for 20-25 minutes, $900 for 25-30 minutes and $1,000 for 30-35 minutes. If a crossing is blocked more than 25 minutes the fine is $1,000 plus $500 for every 5 minutes beyond 25 minutes.
Dolce’s office said two tickets were issued, both to the Canadian National, in 2002. In both of those cases crossings were blocked in excess of 15 minutes and fines of $900 and $1,000 were paid. But Stanton and Beltz said the issuance of two citations within such a short time in 2003 is merely coincidental.
“There’s absolutely no connection to the derailment,” Stanton said.
He said there use to be more of the tickets, particularly in the Cutler area when crews would stop their trains to get a bite to eat at a local convenience store and block a rural crossing, and when repair work was done by the railroad at a site on Du Quoin’s north edge. Those situations have been eliminated, Stanton said. Beltz also said years ago when more trains went through Perry County there were more problems but officials hope and believe that the two recent tickets aren’t the beginning of a return to the old days.