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Officials Call For Solutions To Trains Blocking Crossings; Law Provides For Fines
December 14, 2018
Elected officials are tired of trains blocking local roads and cutting off neighborhoods, and they are looking for solutions — including a call by one county commissioner to starting fining CSX under a law passed nearly 25 years ago.
“I’ve got constituency whose quality of life is being harmed, if not their personal safety,” Escambia County Commissioner Steven Barry said. During a commission committee meeting Thursday, he entered into the record about 40 pages of comments on the train issue that were made Wednesday by NorthEscambia.com readers on our website and social media channels.
Trains blocking local roadways is quality of life issue, he said, because people can spend 30 minutes or more each day waiting for a train blocking Highway 29 near Muscogee Road. And Barry said it’s an obviously a public safety issue when first responders are blocked from reaching citizens in need.
One Cantonment neighborhood, east of Highway 95A from Countri Lane to McKenzie Road, has been completely cutoff for hours by a stopped train. There are documented incidents where fire trucks and EMS units were unable to respond to medical emergencies in the neighborhood due to stopped trains.
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Escambia County has had an ordinance on the books since 1994 that allows for a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail when a train blocks a crossing for more than 15 minutes, except in the case of an emergency or mechanical failure.
But enforcing that ordinance becomes difficult, according to county attorney Alison Rogers.
“This is a very difficult and frustrating area of the law. Railways and railroad companies have very significant federal protections and preemption,” Rogers said in an August email to NorthEscambia.com. “…I don’t recall anytime in recent memory that it has been tested. That said, there is no question that when dealing with railway issues, it is a challenge and cooperation is often difficult to obtain.”
Barry said a state law says that if a train is functioning and stopped, the railroad company must break the train for emergency vehicles, “but that’s not what happens”.
Barry and State Senator Doug Broxson said they are planning a sit down meeting with CSX decision makers early next year to address the issue.
“I’m very hopeful that we can sit down and figure something out …looking for a court to say the county does not have the ability to enforce the state and local ordinances,” Barry said Thursday. “”If we can’t get movement (from CSX), then I hope a majority of my colleagues would support at least making someone tell us that we can’t enforce the ordinances that we have.”
“We want to be civil about this and be gentlemanly in our approach, but if we have to modify the law to make sure our citizens are not being abused, that is what we will do,” Broxson said.
Commissioner Doug Underhill said it is time for Escambia County to start lobbying for funding for bridges over the railroad tracks on Airport Boulevard and Nine Mile Road and task county staff to determine if additional roads could support a secondary route.
Commissioner Lumon May said the Airport Boulevard crossing is sometimes blocked for 45 minutes by stopped trains.
“Those are critical moments that someone with a heart attack could be dead,” May said.
Pictured: An Escambia County Fire Rescue truck and an Escambia County EMS unit blocked by a stopped train on Highway 29 near Muscogee Road on two separate, unrelated emergency calls. Pictured below: A train blocked the Becks Lake Road crossing near Muscogee Road for about two hours early Thursday morning. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
20 Responses to “Officials Call For Solutions To Trains Blocking Crossings; Law Provides For Fines”
So far the train has blocked Becks Lake Road twice in January 2018. First time it lasted 20 minutes and this time we have just reached 20 minutes. There is no other way out of this area when the train stops.
Responding to “Had Enough Too”. The locomotives are equipped with Event Recorders that are very similar to aircraft flight recorders. Have you ever flown into an airport and got stuck on a tarmac while waiting for other aircraft to take off or land? The same things happen to trains. If a train is servicing the paper mill and has the track blocked, another train cannot pass. These train crews stop where they are told to stop. How do you know it was the engineer or a brakeman or a switchman that went for coffee? As I mentioned before, the tracks were there before any of us were born. If you could cause the railroad enough problems that they quit servicing the paper mill, 500 jobs would be at risk.
DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER WHEN? Not so many years ago after hurricane Ivan destroyed the CSX TRESTLE over Escambia Bay, the railroad offered to reroute the tracks rather than bearing the expense of building a new multi million dollar trestle. The project would have taken a route that by passed Pensacola and Milton. All that would have been left in Escambia County would have been a spur line that serviced the port and local industry. The short sighted politicians of the time turned their noses up at this project, and refused to assist CSX with right of way acquisition so they stuck with the old route. Now we have a fresh crowd of short sighted politicians that think they can divert attention away from their total lack of planning and blame the railroad for all the traffic problems. All the noise they make about enforcing any local law on the railroad is just noise for the sake of getting a few votes because Congress years ago exempted railroads from ANY local control. It boils down to the fact that this is not a CSX problem, it is a Escambia County and State of Fl. problem, and will have to be corrected by local politicians. So, you have two choices, ignore the problem, or start pouring concrete for overpasses.
We need an overpass .
CXS is not above the law although they believe they are. I have live In Molino for over 20 years and this type of situation happens WEEKLY IF NOT MORE. CAN WE PLEASE MAKE THEM FOLLOW THE LAW?
This will take a lot of effort from CSX, IP, FDOT, Escambia County Florida and everyone traveling on Hwy29 & Hwy95a. It’s not going to happen in a month.
There’s land sitting idle north of the paper mill that IP owns. The old IP Golf Course.
Use the old golf course for the operations of CSX train traffic to the paper mill or what ever else that’s needed in the further.
Build a train tussle across Hwy 29 and 95a N, starting across from Porky’s Pizza on Hwy 95aN, ending near the corner of Morris Ave and Hwy 29. Allowing all traffic on Hwy 29 and Hwy 95a to pass under it. I know that the roads will have to be lowered but, both highways are low in this area and the tussle could have a slight degree of arch in the middle.
Have the water run off go to a holding pond east of the train tussle where it’s connected to the main train track.
Move Hwy95a N back where it use to be. Where Hwy29N enters Hwy95a N, Have a right turn lane from Becks Lake Road to enter Hwy 95a N. Install a traffic signal, Do not have a left turn off Hwy 29 South on to Hwy 95a N.
Close Morris Ave. at Hwy 29 Use the east turn lane at Hwy29S between Mustang North and the Shell Gas station as an entrance to Hwy95a N across from Woodland St.
Install a train crossing between the motorcycle shop building and the barber shop building, where the old Cantonment Produce Stand was at on Muscogee Rd. Moving the train crossing from Hwy 29 to Muscogee Rd.
Deleting the need for the crossing on Hwy29. Hopefully slowing train traffic at Becks Lake Rd. use the old holding area for trains waiting for a primary train to pass. Because all train cars waiting to go into the paper mill will at the old IP golf course.
These are just my thoughts, will it work? Who knows? At least it’s a start.
They should put timers on the crossing arms that print the time the arms are down .which is sent to the county every month and every time that month they are down over 15 minutes they should get fined.
So lived here my whole life and yes they have threatened fining them before but nothing comes out of it back then it was L&N it is just part of living in cantonment the railroad is a powerful group just look back in history how the railroad has bullied its way around .do you really think they care what the people of cantonment fl think .They will pay the good lawyers and donate to the right causes and it will be over .
This is what happens when your taxes in the Last 20 to 30 years goes to South Escambia County and not fairy distributing out! North Escambia is Lucky if We get 15% TOTTAL of all tax dollars! Maybe it time to have a Hospital & Fire Department North Of Cantonment Of good size! I been saying for years Maybe time to break apart into 2 counties! North Escambia gets Crumbs. It’s like we help pay for Pensacola! But we very rarely see any changes past Cantonment! Maybe time we get 25 to 30 of all Collected County taxes!
so airport road where it is a MAIN ROAD BACK IN TOWN AND BEEN THIS WAY FOR 50 YEARS or folks who moved out to the suburbs and now scream ME ME ME ME..>What about all of us back down here in town where we have REAL traffic problems or thisone road and THE SAFETY OF EVERYONE. Barry hasnt done a THING and still not doing anything worth a darn.
These politicians are on what you would call a fool’s errand. In spite of how important they think they are, no State or Local Governments have any authority over the operations of the railroads. The reason that the law they speak of has been on the books for 25 years without being enforced is that it is un-enforceable, Any attempt to enforce it would be struck down in Federal Court right after the local government spent a bunch of money on court costs and lawyer bills. Senator Broxton and the rest would serve this area best by obtaining some road money for overpasses. They find the money for projects they are for like they just did for the Navy Federal Interstate overpass and exchange. In this case, one special interest’s project is more important than the safety of everybody North of Cantonment
I once had to stop on highway 4 eastbound in Century for a train that pulled just far enough down the tracks to block the crossing. The engineer got out, casually strolled into the convenience store there and got a cup of coffee. Then he drank it, while traffic backed up for miles in both directions. He could have stopped fifty yards back down the tracks and left the crossing open, but then he’d have to walk further!
If companies use GPS tracking they know what their employees are doing at all times. They know where or not there is a legitimate excuse for crossings to be blocked. Seems to me the railroads need to start checking on their engineers and weeding those out that are causing the problems.
A fire/rescue station north of Muskcogee Road already exists ….Fire/Rescue #4 across from Grocery Advantage. Still, it can do nothing for residents of Cottage Hill who are blocked in when the train blocks all roads in and out.
I remember them getting fined about 10 yrs ago for blocking the road. It was tossed out by the court.
CSX is just the delivery man the railroad spurs that are causing the delays are private company spurs. The owners are the ones that need to be fined for not providing adequate space on their property for switching the rail cars. If CSX is blocking public roads like Airport Blvd then they should be made to break the train if it will be blocked longer than allowed by law. And Rodney there is a fire station just north of Muscogee but depending on the emergency they will need additional help.
Even if a new station is built north of the crossings, that does not address how those emergency vehicles would be able to transport patients to nearby hospitals!!!!!!!!! The crossings would still have to be crossed to transport patients/victims.
The ordinance is not going after the the railroad, it is directed towards the operators.
If they are fined or go to jail they will stop.
So if I drive a railroad truck I can speed, run lights, do what ever I want with no recourse????????
Thank you Senator Broxson, commissioners Barry, May and Underhill and Ms. Rogers! I hope CSX et al understand and take corrective measures before Escambia County citizens seek a federal class action lawsuit against CSX, the paper mill and other rail delivery recipients and the federal railway system. May God forbid someone to pass away or a home be destroyed by fire from absence of adequate EMS or lifesaving first responders’ ability to arrive in a timely manner. As an affected resident and property owner of Escambia County, my entire family and neighborhood desire a fair and just solution to the problem as soon as possible.
The difficulty of dealing with the RR folks at CSX on any issue was highly understated. I hope that this time a solution to the problems will be found.
It is time to test the law. Another thing is to build a fire/rescue station north of Muscogee road. The railroad should be willing to pay for this as it will improve their public image and help limit their liability.