HOUSTON, Texas — Trains blocking traffic is a big problem in some Houston communities and it's more than just a nuisance.
The stopped trains can delay emergency crews who get stuck at the crossings and slow response times.
“We have about 900 instances each year. In 2021, we had over 1,300 instances in which our emergency crews had to reroute because they were being blocked by a stopped train,” Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said.
He said fire crews anticipate areas that are chronically blocked and avoid those routes to get to people who need help as fast as they can.
Areas like Fifth Ward and East End see trains come to a full stop and block the road more than any other part of the city.
Nearby homeowners and businesses are also impacted and they want something done about it.
For instance, Segundo Coffee Lab is one of the newest coffee shops in East End. Since opening in June co-founder Martha Gil said business is thriving.
“It’s been great. We get people from out of town you know, come all the time."
But, one of the biggest obstacles the coffee shop faces right now is the trains that roll through the area.
Gil said Segundo Coffee Lab sits in between two main railroad tracks.
She said often both tracks will have stopped trains blocking the road for hours at a time.
“We have people that are here, they come and stop and get a cup of coffee and then they can’t leave because they’re stuck,” Gil said. “Or, we have phone calls, ‘Hey, I’m coming in from out of town but I don’t know how to get around or I can’t get into your coffee shop.’ Or, ‘Oh my god, I wanted to come by yesterday but I couldn’t because of the train.' Or, the fact that our employees can’t even get to open the doors because the train is stuck there.”
Gil said the stopped trains affect their bottom line and the lives of those in the community.
Union Pacific Railroad is one of several freight-haulers that use the tracks.
Clint Schelbitzki, assistant vice president of public affairs for Union Pacific, trains are getting longer as more goods are transferred through the area.
He said trains aren’t meant to block crossings so they take these concerns seriously.
“We’ve invested tens of millions of dollars in our terminals here to be able to speed up train traffic into and out of the city. That should help reduce the blocked crossings and, over time, improve the situation much better,” Schelbitzki said.
Gil wants to see her neighborhood respected like other Houston communities that have trains go by.
“It’s time to change,” she said. “It’s time for us to speak up for our future generation so they don’t have to deal with this anymore.”
The city said there are no regulations to address stopped trains or laws to improve public safety.
Officials said they have limited oversight in operations of railroads in the city. This falls to the federal government and individual companies to keep the trains moving.
If you do come across a stopped train you can report it to Union Pacific at 1-888-877-7267.
The federal government has also created a website for you to file a complaint.
Since it started in Dec. 2019, they’ve had about 34,000 complaints. In Texas alone, there have been more than 4,100 complaints.
Data shows 725 of those are in Houston and 660 of those complaints were made in the last year.
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