(The following story by Bart Bedsole of television station KRIS appeared on the Corpus Christi Caller website on January 19.)
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Beginning this week in Refugio, the trains are now moving a bit faster, and before long they’ll be going twice the speed they used to.
Monday, the speed of the trains was increased from 25 to 30mph.
Next week, it will be increased to 35mph.
The following week, it’s up to 40mph.
The week after that, a final increase to 49.
Yes, the increase will be gradual, but residents say any increase is a dangerous one.
About a dozen times a day, a train can be easily seen and heard in Refugio.
The trains pass so often that residents here have learned to accept it, that is, until recently when they found out the trains would soon be going faster.
Many now fear for their homes and their children who often play just across the fence from the tracks.
Resident Dora Soliz says, “If it derails, these apartments won’t last. It’ll just kill everybody in these apartments.”
“Oh, that’s a disaster, that’s a disaster,” says Mayor Ray Jaso, “especially if he came in from the south of town where there’s a good curve.”
That curve is one where cars can’t always easily see a fast-approaching freighter.
Mayor Jaso says they were told about the changes earlier this month, but were never allowed to decide the issue for themselves.
“They claim that they don’t really have to ask us for our opinion or anything like that,” he says, “so they just dropped it on us.”
Union Pacific tells us that cities are often confused by the regulations, but they don’t have any control over the speed of the trains.
Instead, the company says it’s the quality of the tracks and the crossing signals that determine how fast the trains are allowed to travel.
UP says recent improvements to both allow them to speed up, and the company appears to be correct.
According to the federal regulations, locally established speed limits would not only cause train delays, but could actually increase safety hazards.
But those in Refugio disagree, and are determined to derail the increase any way they can, even though it seems the odds are against them.
Jaso says, “I don’t know how far we’re going to get, but we’re gonna give it 150 percent.”
The mayor plans to work with the police chief and other local officials and send a letter to TXDOT voicing their concerns.
But Union Pacific says they have yet to have an accident as a result of increasing their speed limit, and they say a faster train would only decrease delays in town.