The consequences of trains blocking at-grade railroad crossings range from driver aggravation to maiming to death.
On Jan. 31 this year, a Union Pacific train was parked on tracks near Dixon, Illinois, for at least eight hours, blocking off an entire subdivision.
Shortly before 2 a.m. the Lee County Sheriff’s Office learned that a UP train was blocking the roadways for the entire Woodland Shores subdivision west of Dixon, the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan.
At the time of the call, the train had already been stationary and blocking the road for hours, residents complained. The UP crew reportedly had timed out and was waiting for a relief crew.
The sheriff’s office contacted Union Pacific multiple times in an effort to get the train to move.
Finally, a few minutes before 10 a.m., the train was separated, and the railway crossing was opened to traffic.
The Federal Railroad Administration identified eight trespass incidents in Oklahoma City in 2017-19 that resulted in injuries or deaths. For example, a University of Central Oklahoma football player crawled under a stopped train in 2018 to cross the tracks; the train moved, running over the player and severing his left foot.
In Oklahoma, a train blocking a railroad crossing in Noble was blamed for a death that triggered a lawsuit against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
Linda Byrd filed a lawsuit in Cleveland County District Court on Oct. 27, 2021, accusing BNSF of negligence in the death of her husband 11 months earlier.
The police department in Noble was notified at 8:38 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2020, that the railroad tracks intersecting Maple Street had been blocked for half an hour by a BNSF train. A police officer contacted BNSF “and advised them of the issue.”
Around 9:33 p.m. the NPD received a call from another person who claimed to have been waiting at those same tracks for approximately an hour and a half, unable to cross because of a train blocking the crossing. The NPD contacted BNSF again “and again advised them of the issue.”
Approximately 15 minutes later the Noble police were contacted by a third person complaining he had been waiting to cross the railroad tracks for more than two hours. Police again notified BNSF of the problem.
About 1:15 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2020, the Noble P.D. received a 911 call requesting medical assistance for Larry Eugene Byrd, 66, “who was having chest pains and was losing consciousness but still breathing.”
CPR was performed by family members “and continued until EMS personnel were able to arrive on scene.”
Meanwhile, police officers and emergency medical service personnel were dispatched to the Byrd home at 940 S. Front Street. But the only route to that address was via the Maple Street crossing, “which was fully blocked by a stopped BNSF train…”
Noble police and EMS personnel said they spoke directly to a BNSF conductor, who allegedly refused to move the train, “closed the locomotive’s window and would not respond to any further questions…”
Finally, at approximately 1:30 a.m. – 10 minutes after BNSF “was first notified of an emergency medical situation” at the Byrd residence half a mile south of the tracks on Front Street, the train “finally moved forward and cleared the tracks.”
Noble Fire Department EMTs began defibrillation efforts “but by then it had been 17 minutes since Mr. Byrd had experienced his cardiac event” and it was too late to resuscitate him.
Ironically, Chad Byrd, the victim’s son, told an Oklahoma City television news crew five years earlier, in June 2015, that action was needed to prevent train crossing blockages “before a tragedy occurs,” according to Railfan & Railroad Magazine.
Linda Byrd filed a wrongful death lawsuit against BNSF, its division trainmaster and the BNSF road foreman of engines, along with the train’s conductor and the engineer “who was operating the train that blocked EMS access” to the Byrd home.
BNSF attempted to get the case removed to Oklahoma’s Western District federal court, but U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot denied the motion and sent the case back to Cleveland County on Sept. 22, 2022.
No activity has occurred in the case since that date, the Oklahoma State Courts Network indicates.
OKCPD applies for grant to reduce train injuries and deaths
Railroad crossing incidents are the second leading cause of rail-related deaths in America, the Federal Railroad Administration reports. According to the National Safety Council, 893 deaths attributed to railroads occurred in 2021, compared to 744 in 2020.
The Oklahoma City Police Department recently applied for a $120,000 grant from the FRA to identify vulnerable rail locations and pedestrian behaviors that lead to injury or death.
The OKCPD cited failure to enforce trespassing laws as a driving factor in the number of trespassing incidents on railroad property over the past 10 years.
Department officials wrote that two years ago the OKCPD worked with the Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads on a project that led to 368 trespassing citations. A principal contributor to trespassing incidents is the number of homeless camps near rail lines, officials said.
It has been reported that 60 to 80 trains may pass through Oklahoma City in a single day.
OKCPD officials said they intend to use the grant proceeds for overtime positions and to enforce trespassing laws on railroad property identified as “hot spots” for trespass incidents.