South Carolina: Data reveals increase in trains blocking intersections
If you've seen more trains idling, blocking intersections around the state, you're not alone.
According to reports gathered from the Federal Railroad Administration, there's been a major increase in trains stopping anywhere from hours to days, blocking commonly used roadways in South Carolina.
Trains were a major roadblock to drivers around the Rutherford and Waddell Street intersection in Greenville. That intersection was blocked nearly 50 times in April and May, many blocks lasting days.
Since moving near the tracks, it's become a big issue for Amanda Prentice's family.
"Half a mile down the road, you get stuck in traffic from the train, and you get stuck for 30 minutes trying to get through that intersection, and it's just, my kid's been an hour late to school," she said.
The train derails her son's school day and her husband's job.
"He's gotten written up for being late because of the train. He's already lost a job once because of the train," she said.
Trains only blocked Rutherford and Waddell a dozen times over the months prior, usually only for a few minutes. Arianna Libert says this new pattern is posing a safety risk.
"One thing I'm also concerned about: Sometimes the train will be stopped right around it, and people just drive through the barriers put down. So there's a lot of dangerous aspects to that," Libert, who lives nearby, said.
That safety concern is part of why Steve Greene started writing to his congressman, William Timmons, months ago.
"It's unsafe. Any time you have a stopped train, it's going to block emergency vehicles en route. You're losing tons of time and gas for commuters," he said.
There is no federal law against trains blocking intersections. Law enforcement can fine conductors who do it, but that's dropped off after one case in the Illinois state supreme court.
"The railroad company just collected thousands of these fines and tickets, didn't pay them, and then they took it to court, and all these tickets were thrown out," Greene said.
Greene believed the only way to affect change is for a large group of people to write their legislators as well as state and local leaders and to report blockages to the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration).
One thing Greene, Prentice, and Libert agreed on: Trains shouldn't be scheduled to pass through busy intersections during rush hours. And if a train will block an intersection for an extended period of time, Prentice wished the FRA would alert people living nearby.
We reached out to Norfolk Southern about these stops back in April. They responded:
"Since the implementation of our new operating plan last year, we’ve been studying the way trains operate across our network. With safety and continuous improvement at the forefront, we introduced a number of operational changes in March. This included a shift in the way some trains are built, with the goal of minimizing train incidents, including derailments, by managing potential in-train forces. Implementing those changes has temporarily impacted our service, resulting in some trains being stopped for extended periods. We never want to inconvenience a member of the community with a stopped train, and our teams work quickly to resolve these issues whenever they arise. We're confident that as we fully implement these changes to improve safety and service reliability, service will continue to improve over the next few months."
They said things should be back on track within the next six months.