GOSHEN — Talk didn’t work so the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department has begun issuing tickets to train crews that block Dunlap road crossings.
According to the sheriff’s department, a local resident made a complaint to officers at 1:32 p.m. Wednesday that the crossing on Sunnyside Avenue was blocked by a train. Norfolk Southern Corp., which operated the train and owns the tracks, was contacted, according to police, and reported “the train crew ran out of time.” Railroad employees reportedly told police that it would take two to three hours for a relief crew to arrive and move the train.
Sheriff’s deputies went to the crossing and began issuing tickets to Norfolk Southern for blocking the road in violation of state statue. The officers continued writing tickets for every 10 minutes the crossing was blocked, issuing 18 citations in total. Police said a relief crew arrived at 5:05 p.m. and moved the train.
Police said the crew was not cited personally, as they were working under the orders of their company. The tickets will be delivered to Norfolk Southern’s Elkhart office. Each violation carries a penalty of up to $500.
According to police, the enforcement occurred after the department had been in contact last week with Norfolk Southern officials about the community’s concern that trains often block crossings in Dunlap. The department said those concerns “went unheeded” by railroad officials.
“It should be noted that prior to enforcement actions being taken,” the department said in a statement, “the sheriff’s department has been in communication with Norfolk Southern Railroad’s Office of Government Affairs to make them aware of the community’s concerns and that enforcement action would be taken if the trains continued to block railroad crossings.”
In its news release, the sheriff’s department quoted the state law governing blocked crossings. That law requires trains to be clear of crossings within 10 minutes unless there is a circumstance that the railroad company cannot control.
Wednesday’s issue was crew availability.
Norfolk Southern spokesman David Pidgeon said he could not comment on the ticketing. But he said the company is working as fast as it can to expand capacity on its lines and is hiring more crews to man the ever growing number of trains carrying the nation’s freight.
Pidgeon said the length of time crews can operate a train is governed by union contracts as well as strict federal regulations.
“We absolutely understand the community’s frustration when the trains are stopped,” Pidgeon said. “We are frustrated too. Our company’s job is to keep trains moving. It’s good for the economy of Dunlap and the economy overall.”
Rail traffic is growing, he said, because the economy is still expanding after the Great Recession and railroads are being called upon to carry more freight. He said more than 100 trains a day travel through Elkhart County.
Pidgeon said so far this year the company has hired 58 conductors to operate out of the Elkhart rail yard and will hire another 24 this year. Overall the company has hired 1,300 new conductors this year and expects to hire up to 1,600 conductors next year.
The company is also investing in infrastructure to alleviate train backups, including adding a third siding from Dunlap to Goshen to allow trains to pass each other.
Another project, the $160 million expansion of the rail yard in Bellvue, Ohio, will help alleviate train congestion in the Elkhart yards, according to Pidgeon. That expansion is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Yet another project is The Gateway Project, a partnership of Amtrak, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration and Norfolk Southern. The $71.4 million project will add tracks at seven locations in northwest Indiana and one in southern Michigan, to alleviate congestion between Amtrak trains and freight trains.
All those projects will help alleviate congestion in the future in the Elkhart area, according to Pidgeon.
“The challenges we have right now is to add people and add capacity,” he said.
As far as solving the Dunlap problem and avoiding tickets, Pidgeon said, “Norfolk Southern believes in having cooperative efforts at finding solutions with local law enforcement.”
And the sheriff’s departments stance?
“Elkhart County Sheriff’s deputies will continue to monitor this situation and will take additional enforcement actions as needed,” the department’s stated in its Wednesday release.