(The following article by Aaron Claverie was posted on the Imperial Valley Press website on January 22.)
CALEXICO, Calif. — Union Pacific Railroad trains headed into Mexico are blocking up to three intersections at a time, snarling traffic and trapping motorists on either side of the tracks for 20 minutes in some cases.
City Councilman John Renison, one of the motorists recently trapped, called the situation a “crisis” and said something has to be done.
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Renison told Interim City Manager Luis Estrada to talk to Union Pacific and the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and find out what’s going on.
Renison said it could become a matter of “life and death” if an ambulance is stuck on either side of the tracks. Renison said the city might look into building overpasses if the matter can’t be easily resolved administratively.
“It’s a dire emergency now,” he said.
Mayor Pro Tem David Ouzan said the city should look into opening Fifth Street as another way to get from the east to the west in the city.
Customs is charged with checking the trains before they leave the United States and trains are sometimes stacked up during inspections or when Union Pacific engines are being swapped out for engines from the Mexican company that will pull the boxcars south.
John Bromley, West Coast spokesman for Union Pacific, said this morning that there are no issues with customs. He said the traffic issue likely has been caused by an increase in business.
“(There’s been) more trains than what we have been having recently,” he said.
Renison said he hasn’t spoken to Bonnie Lemert, director of area ports for Customs and Border Protection.
“I have not nor will I,” Renison said.
Lt. Jill Tangendal said the Police Department met with customs officials about two weeks ago to discuss the issue.
“It appears that it’s the railroad company; they’re having to switch cars around and it’s backing up the traffic,” she said.
In the next couple weeks Estrada will meet with the “Mexican railroad people” and local Union Pacific representatives to see if the switching system can’t be made more efficient, Tangendal said.
As for emergency vehicles, Tangendal said they will get to the places they need to go as fast as they can, even if it means driving north to Cole Road or Jasper Road to get across the tracks.
Depending on the length of the trains, intersections from Second Street past Highway 98 can be blocked at one time.