Andrew Bielaczyc could be sitting at the railroad crossing on Farm Lane and Service Road for a lot less time if two congressional bills are passed.
“It kind of bugs me,” the human biology senior said while waiting for a train to pass through the crossroads. “I live on the other side of the train tracks and it separates me from everything.”
The bills, which are being proposed by U.S. Rep John Dingell, D-Dearborn, would limit the amount of time a train could block a railroad crossing.
The bills would direct the secretary of transportation to regulate the amount of times trains could block traffic. If the secretary did not do this within a suitable time period, states and local governments could regulate the trains themselves, Dingell said.
“They are an inconvenience to Americans each day, by not only the trains crossing the roads on the track, but sometimes they will stop and block the road for long periods of time,” he said. “People are denied the right to get to work, their homes and appointments for the simple fact that they are blocked by trains.”
Michigan used to have a law that limited the amount of time a train could block a crossing, but it was found unconstitutional after CSX Transportation sued the city of Plymouth for limiting the amount of time they could block traffic.
“Almost every state statute and city and county ordinance became unconstitutional and went out of effect,” Dingell said. “This would see to it that there would be a suitable amount of time crossings are being blocked.”
State Attorney General Jennifer Granholm will appeal the ruling that ended the law that limited the time trains can block traffic.
But Jack Burke, spokesman for Canadian National Railway, said limiting the time and fining railways would be counterproductive.
“Railroads do not intentionally block crossings,” he said. “We are in the business of moving freight and when a train is stopped it is costing us money.”
Burke said punishing the railroads would only add trucks to highways.
“A train with 100 cars is equivalent to 300 trucks,” he said. “If someone is delayed by a train, then they should consider what it is like to have 300 trucks on the road.”
Burke also said when a train is stopped it is either because of a mechanical problem or because another train is blocking the way.
“The freight is going to move,” he said. “But people have to be patient.
“If people want more trucks on the road then the way to do it is to make it hard to do business with railroads.”
Dingell, however, said trains blocking crossings for long periods of time could potentially be dangerous.
“If there was an ambulance taking someone to the hospital or a bank robbery and the railroad track across was blocked, it might be that someone might die, or the police would not get to the robbery,” he said.
Shannon Murphy can be reached at murphy78@msu.edu.
