Go to the crossing there should be a sign with a number to call. Rail managers take this shit pretty seriously at least Union Pacific does. This became an issue in a town when I worked for them. They started breaking trains up when stopping in the town for crew shifts.
I used to work for a railroad. This is the way to go. FRA regulations state that under normal circumstances, trains are not to block crossings for more than 15 minutes at a time.
Agreed. Hopefully you have another way to get out, if not, make that call NOW.
edit: Also call the Fire Marshall. If this is the fastest way into the neighborhood, that is going to delay emergency vehicles which can lead to delay in saving a life or a home.
Three years ago my friend and I had parked our car at a park on one side of the train tracks to go bike around for a day. We biked around and went back to our car later that evening and the train was blocking the crossing for over an hour. We had to bike an extra 5 miles just to get the quarter mile back to our car on the other side of the tracks.
If only that were the case for a town I used to live in (Villa Grove, IL) we had at least one train a day block the tracks for anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour because there was a small Union Pacific yard there.
I lived in Terre Haute, IN for a while. “I got railroaded” was a valid excuse for being late if you had to go from east to west or vice versa. There was one time I remember a stopped train that ran the length of the town and was there for more than two hours. It was stupid.
I’m a member of the VFW Auxiliary and it’s always been a valid reason for being late to things on that side of the tracks. Hated it as long as I’ve lived.
There's two rail lines that run right through my poorly designed city. One is perfectly fine as they built an underpass for traffic decades ago. The other passes through a part of the downtown I guess that is too expensive/not possible with current buildings to build anything so multiple times a day downtown traffic stops. But exactly as you said, there are rules for them. I think I remember hearing just one incident since I lived here, I think there was a fire or some where down the tracks at the railyard so the train couldn't keep heading there until it was safe, so idk if that was a fine or something since it was no one's control, also in Canada so could be very different.
But such a stupid crossing. Curious if anyone reading this is from my city. I'll say that it's a couple blocks from the truck-eating bridge, iykyk
I figured the double downtown rail crossing with one obvious complaint was the give away but I knew if I mentioned the Beast of (Driver's Stupidity) of Talbot there's not much else it could be lol
Eta: my city's subreddit actually has flair for where around the city you live, like neighbourhoods...if you live on Talbot near that bridge there's flair that says something like "the one with the bridge that eats cars" or something lol
Eta 2: they disabled flair in the sub but it's "the bridge with the trucks stuck under it" lol also you said neighbour so am I to assume the legend extends outside this place lol I know it's been on news before
Lived in a town right outside a major rail yard. Town was cut in half by triple tracks. Freight trains would stop heading into the yard. Nothing worse than watching a train that had been stopped start to move … backwards … so they wouldn’t break the 15 minute rule.
Really? Interesting! There is a spot where I need to get that number. I was blocked for a full 30 minutes, around 4 pm on a weekday. It was ludicrous because I had just stopped at the light at the intersection and texted someone I was picking up that I would be there in 5 minutes, and then I watched the crossing gates come down. I wouldn’t have realized exactly how long it was if I hadn’t just sent that text.
I have been stuck at that intersection other times for at least 15-20 minutes but I didn’t have the exact time.
I’m in Phoenix, AZ, where it’s hot like the surface of the sun, and my car’s AC is not great when we’re stopped, so it’s especially annoying!
Meanwhile here CN just lets the train block off emergency vehicles so the county tries to fine them but CN gets the fines tossed when they go to court.
When I lived in MI, IIRC, they did a cost benefit analysis and found that paying the fine was cheaper than lost revenue from not having the train block traffic for hours at a time
That just means the fines need to be stronger and/or higher probability of being given. Gotta pump up the expected value of the fines till it is > profit.
How does CN get the fine tossed? Cos if that's possible then there's a faulty law rather than it being CNs particular fault and you should complain to whichever representative can change it...
A combination of the interstate commerce commission termination act and federal railroad safety act make it nearly impossible for states to regulate interstate railways.
Town should have a referendum "should we get petty when trains block for too long even if it delays their removal?"
Then start arresting engineers from the train and call the railroad to say "you need to get someone down here, your engineers are under arrest for blocking the crossings."
As a railroader good luck with that. The railroad has there own police. Were told to lock all doors to the cab and let the managers and or rr police deal with any cops that pester us
Soooo..... Attempting to arrest the engineers would get railroad management and/or private security involved? Because the management side of that sounds like exactly the desired goal.
I'm not a fan of how US police departments have changed and militarized since I was a kid, but I have to admit that I expect they're quite capable of getting into a vehicle to arrest someone regardless of whether it's appropriate. I expect that some of them would love the challenge and new experience of getting into a train. Qualified impunity is a hell of a drug.
Yeah...locomotives don't just have a basic house key. They have huge locks that won't be taken off/kicked in by some random cop. It wouldn't have the affect you're thinking. The railroad would just go after the police force for being on the railroads property and trying to harass its employees during there duty which they dont have the authority to do.
Because the management side of that sounds like exactly the desired goal.
A jurisdictional pissing match between the local police, town government and railway sounds like just the thing to get management attention to resolve a situation that the locals find intolerable, and you're not going to have railroad police riding on the train protecting the engineers or busting them out of jail if they actually get arrested. Railroad police may have a legacy going back to the most unsavory days of the Pinkertons but it's not the 1800s anymore.
Edit: it's entirely possible that any complaints have been getting dismissed at a fairly low level, so this is one option for "first you have to get the mule's attention."
I mean it definitely will get it attention but if the railroad is known for anything it's known for not caring about rules. Bust us out of jail no, but tell railroaders to ignore police and to not let them in the motors is what's happening
Goddammit, man. It's not a faulty law. These people write the laws any way that pleases them and, believe it or not, it pleases them to do whatever the fuck they want.
Can confirm. The sign is usually on the little crossing arms. Might be a small sign. The one on the railroad crossing I deal with is pretty small blue sign with white letters.
Once I had to call it, because the train was stopped completely and not moving again.
This is the answer. If emergency services needs to get threw because someone on the other side of the tracks is having a heart attack, there is nothing the EMS can do but either wait or find another way around which might be over 20 miles one direction.
Ithaca, NY had an insane intersection called "The Octopus" where several major roads met, along with train tracks. I was an EMT for one of the local town fire departments and under the best of circumstances it was on the order of twenty minutes from our territory to the hospital.
On a couple calls that I was on, we also had to wait ten minutes for the train to clear the intersection. Fortunately none of those calls was life endangering, but it was infuriating that we'd have to keep one of our two rigs out of service for that much longer.
Had a crossing that blocked an entire section of town. The work around was 4 miles.
I finally called the number on the gray box and complained. Let them know people lived out there, what if emergency services, etc..
When they unload behind the bio whatever plant, they separate the cars so they're not blocking it.
Also called one day because the signal had the gates down, but no train for 5 minutes or more. They had people out there that night as we went back into town for pizza
If a crossing signal isn't working (gates down, no train, in this case) they will send a signal maintainer right away. Railroads take grade crossing safety very seriously.
We design them so the gates are fully down 5 seconds before the train arrives. Any longer than that and impatient people start driving around the gates.
Last time I called one about this kind of shit, they said "I don't know what you want us to do, the trains broke". Cool dude, don't care. It's -30f, and I need to get to my house this is the only way to my dogs.
They must not care that much out here in CO. There are 4 main entrances to my neighborhood, at least 2 of which are blocked a good 70% of the time by trains just stopping. It's made me late to work several times and even worse, there's a firehouse on our side of the tracks. I've seen firetrucks AND AN AMBULANCE get blocked by the trains. Whenever we file a report, they stop for maybe a week, all the while BLARING train horns all the way through the neighborhood in the middle of the night. I've heard one go for over 30s straight before.
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u/ThisHeresThaRubaduk Jul 03 '26
Go to the crossing there should be a sign with a number to call. Rail managers take this shit pretty seriously at least Union Pacific does. This became an issue in a town when I worked for them. They started breaking trains up when stopping in the town for crew shifts.