Freight trains frequently block roads nationwide. The blockages can interfere with school drop-offs, starve businesses of customers and prevent emergency services from reaching those in distress. Blocked rail crossings snarl towns, but Congress won't act:
YORK, Ala. — Freight trains frequently stop and block the roads of York, sometimes cutting off two neighborhoods for hours. Emergency services and health care workers can’t get in, and those trapped inside can’t get out.
Courts have thrown out several state laws seeking to punish rail companies for blocking traffic, ruling that only the federal government can regulate railway crossings. No federal laws or rules penalize railways for blocking crossings, and congressional proposals to address the issue have failed to overcome opposition from the rail industry.
“This bill should have been about safety reforms relevant to the derailment in East Palestine, but now it’s been expanded to a stalking horse for onerous regulatory mandates and union giveaways,” Thune said. In 2020, he introduced a bill that would have placed limits on how long rail companies could block crossings, and levied penalties for trains that exceeded those limits. The idea made it into a House infrastructure bill. But the Senate removed the provision after the Association of American Railroads said it would “lead to unintended consequences, including network congestion and reductions in service.
Texas, Ohio and Illinois had the most incidents. Some blockages may be reported more than once, but local officials contend that the database greatly undercounts blockages. York residents say they typically don’t report blocked crossings. Local officials and some railway employees said that explanation was self-serving. They link the rise in blocked crossings to a pursuit of bigger profits — Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern have made $96 billion in profits in the last five years, 13% more than in the previous five years. The big railroads’ profit margins significantly exceed those of companies in most other industries.
In York, trains stop and block roads when they use a siding that runs through the town. Residents say the company could move the siding into the surrounding countryside. The railroad association has listed new sidings as a way to tackle blocked crossings in its own materials.
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