(The following story by John D. Homan appeared on The Southern Illinoisan website on October 8.)
MARION, Ill. — Two recent incidents in Marion involving Union Pacific trains passing through town resulted in lengthy delays and have emergency personnel a bit concerned.
Assistant Police Chief John Eibeck said malfunctioning brakes forced one train to grind to a stop over the summer, blocking all 10 crossings in town for nearly an hour. And when a vehicle accident was reported on the opposite or west side of the tracks, emergency personnel had to head south to Cochran Road and loop around the train in order to reach their destination.
A more recent incident involved an intoxicated man lying across the tracks, which forced an engineer to stop his train, blocking two-thirds of the town’s crossings for approximately 30 minutes.
“Emergency brakes are controlled through air pressure,” Eibeck said. “So when they’re used, it takes a while before the lines can be pumped up from the front of the train to the back.”
Eibeck said the department tries to keep at least one patrolman on the west side of town in the event a train ties up emergency responders on the east side.
“Sometimes, though, that officer has to return to the department to fill out a report or whatever and we’re without coverage on the west end for a short period of time. Fortunately, there have been no major accidents when a train has been stopped on the tracks, but the potential is there and there’s going to be an increase in the number of trains coming to town in the months ahead.”
Calls placed to Union Pacific representatives were not returned Monday, perhaps due to the holiday. BNSF Railway also runs trains through Marion.
Regional spokesman Steve Forsberg said anywhere from 12 to 15 trains run through town every 24 hours.
“Breakdowns do happen,” he said. “Fortunately, mechanical failures are on the decline. One possible long-term solution is for the government to invest more in the building of overpasses in critical areas.”
A short-term solution is for police dispatchers to contact the company’s pre-designated toll-free number and request that some of the cars, if stalled, be uncoupled by the engineer in order to free up at least one of the crossings for emergency vehicles.
Marion Mayor Bob Butler isn’t sure that Marion would qualify anytime soon for the construction of an overpass, although he did say that the Illinois Department of Transportation did look into the matter before rejecting it.
The mayor said he’s not too concerned about mechanical breakdowns with trains.
“They rarely occur and they don’t always occur at a crossing,” Butler said. “As long as emergency vehicles are not unduly stymied, I don’t think it should be much of a problem. I’ve timed the trains through a crossing and they generally pass through in four to four and a half minutes. That’s not much of an inconvenience for motorists.”