(The following story by Kim Smith appeared on the Herald News website on April 23, 2010.)
COAL CITY, Ill. — This is one little town that rocks and rolls all day and every night.
The walls rock at least 70 times a day as trains roll by — and that’s rail traffic down. It is feared that the proposed Ridgeport Logistics development in neighboring Wilmington will bring even more trains through.
“We used to get more than 86 a day,” said Coal City fire Chief Harold Holsinger, who has been chief since 1991. “I think the numbers went down with the economy.”
Not only are officials concerned with Ridgeport coming to the southwest corner of Lorenzo Road and Interstate 55, but Holsinger said there is now a 1,000-car train in the works.
“That is almost mile long,” Holsinger said.
Dealing with emergencies
To stop emergency vehicles from wasting precious minutes at crossing gates, a second station is under construction on the south side of town, about a mile south of Route 113 (Division Street) on Berta Road. The station will open this summer.
“Surprisingly enough, our emergency vehicles do not get blocked in that much,” Holsinger said. “In 2009, it only happened 51 times.”
Holsinger said the trains have always been there.
Most are quick-moving BNSF Railway trains but there are United Pacific tracks in town too, making up the eight crossings in the town with a population around 5,000.
The amount of train traffic hasn’t prompted special training for emergency workers.
“An extrication with the Jaws of Life is the same if it is a car, a bus or a truck,” Holsinger said. “It does not matter if it is a car and a train wreck or a car accident.”
If a train is involved in a crash, emergency workers may not immediately know if it is spilling hazardous materials.
“Trains rarely have a placard identifying they have a hazardous load on board like trucks have to do,” Holsinger said. “We must rely on the fact that there is paperwork inside identifying the materials that were spilled.”
Getting situated
Holsinger said the biggest problem the village faces now is traffic backups created as trains pass through.
There have been relatively few accidents considering the number of trains, Coal City police Chief Keith Heffner said.
There haven’t been any major accidents involving trains in the two years he has been in town.
“We have had some suicides,” Heffner said. “Our biggest problem is when the stop arms go down and get stuck. Then I have to send officers out to direct traffic and release (the stop arms).”
Having an office about 100 feet away from the tracks was a bit of an adjustment for Heffner.
“The people here seemed to have acclimated,” Heffner said. “At least the trains go fast and don’t tie things up for too long.”
Next to his office in the Coal City Police Department is the Village Hall. The hall’s meeting room has a large picture window facing the tracks behind the building.
During a recent village board meeting, three trains sped by in the first few minutes of the meeting, followed by two 30 minutes later and two more 30 minutes after that. Another came by minutes after the meeting adjourned.
Rail traffic reflects economy
But Ridgeport officials say their proposed 18 million-square-foot intermodal park won’t bring more trains through.
Steven Forsberg, BNSF general director of exterior relations, said train traffic is tied to the economy.
“Late in 2008, it was learned that we were in a deep recession,” Forsberg said. “All modes of transportation slowed down because their customers were not shipping freight.”
Most freight is filled with the goods and services the consumers are buying,” Forsberg said. “As the needs for more of their services increases, so will the amount of trains.”
Population growth will also create a need for more goods and services as we move into the middle of this century, Fosberg said.
Keeping all parties happy
Coal City Mayor Neal Nelson said steps are in the works to create quiet zones — railroad crossings where the use of horns is eliminated or only allowed during certain times.
“The railroads get a say in these as well as the Federal Railroad Association and either the transportation departments or commerce commissions, depending on the states,” Fosberg said. “The community must make the request.”
Nelson recently asked Wilmington officials to help Coal City’s struggles with the seemingly unending amount of train traffic.
The village hopes Wilmington will get Ridgeport developers to help secure matching grant funds to pay for quiet zones and grade separations — rails that move under or over roads.
In the meantime, it is business as usual for Coal City residents and entrepreneurs.
“We have to keep going,” said one business owner who asked that his name not to be used. “I straighten pictures up all the time and hardly hear the noises anymore.”