When trains block a crossing for hours on end, kids risk their lives to get to school.
On three separate occasions during the fall and winter, reporters witnessed Norfolk Southern trains blocking intersections leading to an elementary, a middle and a high school for four, six and seven hours. ProPublica and InvestigateTV showed footage of kids making the crossing, including an elementary student crawling under a train, to representatives of Norfolk Southern, lawmakers and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, whose remit includes rail safety.
A rail administration spokesperson said the agency shares the data monthly with companies. “When railroads fail to act quickly,” and if a crossing is reported as blocked three days in a calendar month, officials will contact a company to determine the cause and try to work out solutions, Warren Flatau said. “We are receiving various levels of cooperation … and welcome more consistent engagement.
He said the blockages have forced Hammond to keep more firefighters and stations than would normally be needed for a city its size. “I have to have a firehouse fully staffed on both sides of the rail line so that we can respond in a timely manner to an emergency, which is very expensive,” McDermott said.
In his 24 years fighting fires in Hammond, Mike Hull, president of a local union, said not once has he seen railroads do that for first responders. “They’ve never come back and said, ‘We’re going to move this train for you,’” he said. Like the other officials, Garcia said she was aghast, but not surprised, about the situation in Hammond. “That is outrageous, look at the little bitty baby,” she said while watching a video of a young girl crawling under a train car. “That’s what I mean about making sure we do more to protect the safety of our children. That happens too in Houston.”at Scott Middle School to discuss the overpass project.
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