Suburban residents are no strangers to dealing with train tracks. But for residents in Dixmoor, freight train delays at crossings can go from inconvenient to day ruining, as freight trains have stopped and parked for hours at a time.
“I grew up in Calumet Park and was aware of the train situation when I moved here over 20 years ago,” said Dixmoor resident Steve Bechtel. “I knew there were a lot of trains and accepted that. My problem isn’t the frequency of trains, it’s the amount of stopped trains and the fact that some areas you are literally a prisoner when the trains stop.”
Bechtel and other residents said the problem is worse along Western Avenue, where tracks intersect the road in the 139th and 145th blocks.
“If both trains are stopped and you live or work in between them, you have no way in or out, which also means if there is a medical, police or fire emergency, there could be no way to get help,” Bechtel said. “I won’t exaggerate the situation, but I can honestly say at least twice a month I’m not only stopped by trains, but completely trapped by them when they park at both crossings.”
Bechtel is not the only resident complaining about a problem some residents say has increased in recent years. Many residents, particularly those who live in the two mobile home parks between the tracks, have taken to the Facebook group Dixmoor Deserves Better to voice concerns, including complaints that reports to the railroads and other authorities have gone unanswered.
LaRaye Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said there is no federal statute or regulation regarding how long trains may block crossings or any restrictions on train length, so there is no penalty which can be imposed on the train operators.
When asked what residents should do if they find themselves trapped between trains or unable to get home, Brown said they ask residents to report blockages using via a blocked crossing incident reporter web portal, or call a phone number listed on the emergency notification system signs posted at the crossing.
Some residents, however, have said they’ve reached out and been ignored.
“I live between the tracks and got stuck going home today,” resident Cynthia Mossuto wrote in a message to the Southtown April 8. “I called the number posted at the tracks on 142nd and Western, unfortunately, they did not pick up.”
Mossuto said she has gotten through before, but was told a crew wasn’t available to move the train.
“I asked why block the crossing if the train isn’t going to move, and they tell you to report the blocked crossing on their website,” she wrote. “Then why am I calling?”
Others reported submitting complaints online but never receiving a response.
The Federal Railroad Administration has assisted communities and railroads in jointly identifying solutions, Brown said, especially in cases where emergency response access is a concern. But she directed other questions to the railroads which operate on the tracks, CSX and the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company.
Neither railroad returned calls for comment. CSX issued a system notice about blocked crossings April 8, telling employees to “be reminded” of system rules that state when a parked train will block a crossing for more than 10 minutes, employees must notify the dispatcher and, if unable to clear the crossing, make a train separation and notify the dispatcher when the crossing is clear.
The system notice also advised employees to “anticipate the potential for blocked crossings during their tour of duty and when approaching hours of service,” noting “such considerations serve to strengthen relationships with local communities.”
The Federal Railroad Administration does mandate train employees, including drivers and conductors, rest for certain periods of time after a shift.
U.S. law stipulates that train employees cannot work longer than 12 consecutive hours without receiving at least 10 consecutive hours off, and cannot work more than six consecutive days without receiving at least 48 consecutive hours off.
“They’re like truckers,” said Dixmoor deputy police Chief Lionel Smith. “They have to stop after so many hours. It’s an inconvenience for a lot of the suburbs they pass through, but it does seem to happen a lot here. There’s nothing we can do though.”
Smith provided a report from January in which an officer reported being unable to reach their patrol location due to a train which had been stopped in the crossing for about eight hours, while residents have reported blockages lasting more than 10 hours.
Smith also said an officer responded Dec. 8 to a call for emergency assistance at a mobile home near the intersection of Seeley Avenue and 139th Street, where a woman was suffering from chest pains. Emergency medical technicians took her in an ambulance to UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial, but were rerouted seven times due to “gridlocked trains” which had stopped for about 2 1/2 hours, he said.
The ambulance and officer needed to detour through residential portions of Dixmoor and Harvey to reach the hospital, where the patient was pronounced dead, Smith said.
Dixmoor Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts expressed his frustration with the lack of action.
“We used to be able to ticket them, but it went through the courts and we can’t do anything about it anymore,” Roberts said. “It’s higher than us. We’ve called the train companies and sometimes they move them, but then it happens again the next day.”
Fitzgerald said the village sought federal funding from U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush.
Rush’s spokeswoman confirmed the congressman was able to add $4.5 million to the House infrastructure bill, passed in July, to fund grade separation along Western Avenue in Dixmoor. However, the appropriation, along with all other House member projects, were struck from the version of the bill passed by the Senate in November.
“The congressman was very disappointed in the decision as the project was a top priority for him,” the office said.
With federal funding for an overpass or other remediation efforts blocked, and authorities unable to take meaningful action, the path forward for frustrated residents is unclear.
“I’ve lived here for seven years now and it’s been an issue the whole time,” said Pat Engle, Jr., who lives in the Smith mobile home park just two blocks from the train tracks. “I’ve been late for work multiple times because of it. Between this and the water problems, I’m getting to the point of wanting to move.”
Engle said it isn’t just a matter of personal inconvenience, but real fear for community safety.
“There’s a lot of senior citizens who live in the mobile home communities and ambulances need to come in and out,” he said.
Bechtel agreed.
“Mark my words, one day a tragedy will happen where someone needs an ambulance and dies waiting for one, or a fire will break out at one of the mobile home parks in that Bermuda Triangle of trains, and they’ll have homes lost because the fire department couldn’t get through,” he wrote.
The Harvey Fire Department, which serves the area, could not be reached to comment on any complications they have experienced due to the trains.
Jessie Molloy is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
