Railroads can’t be fined for blocking traffic

<p>The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that communities can no longer fine railroad companies when trains block traffic for longer than 10 minutes, an option Johnson County cities were considering as they contend with more rail traffic.</p><p>Supreme Court justices unanimously agreed in the ruling that an 1865 law was pre-empted by the 1995 Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act. The act prohibits states from enacting a law or rule that manages or governs rail transportation.</p><p>Norfolk Southern Railway Co. challenged the statute after receiving 23 tickets in Allen County, where Fort Wayne is. The railroad’s lawyers said the company faced a burden of having to speed up trains or run shorter trains to comply with the statute.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>Railroad crossings have been a long-standing issue in Johnson County. Communities along the rail lines have sought money to pay for expensive safety features at the crossings, which railroad companies don’t have to pay for. The Louisville &amp;amp; Indiana Railroad Co. also improved the lines and got permission to run more and faster trains on tracks from Edinburgh through Greenwood. The stopped trains can cut off traffic. The Louisville and Indiana Railroad line runs north and south through downtown Greenwood, Whiteland and Franklin.</p><p>In Greenwood, trains that are blocking traffic could be the difference between life and death, Mayor Mark Myers said.</p><p>Only one fire station — Station 94 — is east of the line, but three stations are west of the tracks. If an emergency situation occurred west of the tracks but in Station 94’s district while a train was stopped or moving slowly, firefighters would have to decide whether to go around the train, which would add about 4 minutes to the run time, or wait it out. And now, because of this ruling, they could risk waiting longer than 10 minutes.</p><p>“It severely hampers public safety,” Myers said.</p><p>The line runs through the middle of the city, including its downtown.</p><p>“Not only is this not allowing us to punish them, but what’s to stop a railroad from stopping a train in the middle of Greenwood, Ind. now?” he said.</p><p>One concern is a backup in Indianapolis where most of the trains make stops. If that backup were to reach Greenwood, it could completely cut off the east and west sides of the city, except for one overpass on Smith Valley Road.</p><p>“Simply put, it’s very disheartening that the Supreme Court came down that way,” Myers said.</p><p>“Now I think mayors all across the U.S. need to come together and work through our different organizations that we are members of to try to get legislation changed not only for blocking crossings, but for the upgrades and upkeep on them.”</p><p>Railroad companies last year upgraded tracks throughout the state to allow for more trains, more weight on a freight and higher speeds. But they have not upgraded safety features at railroad crossings. Those changes fall on the cities themselves, which frustrates local officials.</p><p>In April, three vehicles ran into or were struck by trains within a 12-hour period in Greenwood. Two accidents on the same railroad line, which runs through the entire state, resulted in multiple deaths.</p><p>In Franklin, stopped or slow-moving trains has not been as big an issue, Mayor Steve Barnett said. But he is disappointed in the court’s ruling.</p><p>“It really doesn’t surprise me because it seems like railroads can do pretty much what they want to do,” Barnett said.</p><p>The only problem area in Franklin lately has been the railroad crossing on Earlywood Drive on the north side of the city, where trains are stopping for up to 30 minutes at a time daily, because a business in the area uses the trains, he said. The city has not written any citations to date.</p><p>Before this ruling, Indiana law allowed cities to issue tickets for $200 or more to railroad companies if one of their trains stopped or blocked traffic for more than 10 minutes at a time.</p><p>Barnett’s biggest concern is safety, too.</p><p>Franklin, along with Greenwood, Whiteland and the county, were awarded a $4.3 million federal grant that will cover 90 percent of the total cost to add arms and flashing lights to 17 railroad crossings. But the money is not available until 2020, and each municipality has to come up with 10 percent of the cost.</p>