(The following story by Jennifer Hall appeared on the St. Joe News website on November 16, 2009.)
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Trains are a part of life in St. Joseph. Kelly Davis knows that.
But what the St. Joseph man doesn’t understand is why the steel giants idle on the tracks for 15 minutes at a time. Sometimes longer, according to him.
“It’s a bit ridiculous,” Mr. Davis said. “To me, there is no legitimate reason why they sit there for that long.”
While the railroad runs through various intersections around St. Joseph, Mr. Davis and other drivers find problems with the intersection at Alabama Street and U.S. Highway 59.
Bruce Owens said he has been late for work in the South Side industrial park on many occasions. Mr. Owens works a first shift and is usually at the tracks slightly after 6 a.m.
“Most mornings it’s fine,” he said.
Other mornings, Mr. Owens said, he drops his head in disgust as he approaches the intersection, the glare off the silent cars beaming back at him.
“It feels like a ghost town when it’s like that,” he said. “And you never know when it’s going to end. It’s not even moving.”
Train congestion is a potential problem for emergency responders as well.
“(Train delays) are an issue with us,” said Steve Groshong, operations manager with Heartland Paramedics. “It may not happen all the time, but you get caught every once in a while. You still get burned sometimes. It does prolong our response time.”
The ambulance service has two posted units to cover the west side of town, including the South Side. But if there is a call on the other side of the tracks, the train is going to cut them off.
“If it makes more sense, (dispatchers) will have another unit respond so they can cut over on the bridge,” Mr. Groshong said. “But it takes more time. It may only cause us to be a few minutes late, but that’s not good.”
South Side resident Jeffery Thomas said, “This intersection has always been a problem.” He said if the trains aren’t causing a headache, the backed-up traffic is.
All of the men agree: They appreciate the trains and aren’t asking them to go away.
“There just needs to be a happy medium,” Mr. Davis said. “There has to be something illegal about it, stalling there for that long.”
Mr. Thomas said he loves the shrieking whistle of a passing train. “I grew up with that sound,” he said. “So I’m not against them. But this can lead to bigger problems.”
BNSF and Union Pacific deny that their trains are causing the problems.
“That’s a Burlington Northern track at that intersection,” said Mark Davis, director of corporate and media relations at Union Pacific.
But Steven Forsberg, general director of public affairs with BNSF, said its rail cars rarely — if ever — block Alabama Street.
According to the Federal Railroad Association, each state has its own uniform vehicle code, a comprehensive guide designed to help develop standard motor vehicle and traffic safety laws as they relate to the railroad.
The code suggests that trains not block crossings for more than five minutes, except under special circumstances. A disabled train or no vehicle traffic waiting to use the crossing are two examples. However, the code is not binding in all states.
A majority of states place restrictions on the amount of time a highway rail crossing can be blocked. In no case does it exceed more than 20 minutes. And the intersection in question is not a highway.
To make matters more complicated, the issue of a state’s authority to legislate or regulate blocked crossings is highly contentious and still being defined in the courts, according to the FRA. Railroads have on occasion mounted “pre-emption” defenses, citing FRA regulations and other federal requirements which they believe take precedence over state laws or local ordinances. In some instances, the railroad actually owns the road it is crossing.
Where there is a conflict between state law and federal rail safety requirements, the courts have found the state law to be pre-empted and therefore unenforceable.
And that doesn’t seem fair to Mr. Owens.
“It’s their job to run those trains, and it’s my job to get to work on time,” he said. “I shouldn’t have to drive 10 miles out of the way to loop around them. It’s just not right.”