Mayor is boiling over freight lines blocking streets
By RAD SALLEE and ROSANNA RUIZ
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Hours after some schoolchildren crawled between freight train cars that blocked north Houston intersections for more than an hour, Mayor Bill White said Thursday that federal officials had agreed to help the city work with railroads to solve such problems.

White said he discussed the issue March 24 with Roger Nober, chairman of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.

"They (board members) have the authority to set rates and terms and conditions for railroads to operate," White said, adding that federal involvement had helped Chicago deal with a similar problem.

White said "my blood boiled" when he learned that children had crawled between rail cars to get to McReynolds Middle School at 5910 Market. Wheatley High School and Nat Q. Henderson Elementary are a short distance away on the other side of the tracks.

"This is a new day. We're going to stop this," White said Thursday afternoon. "It causes inconvenience, it's a danger to people and it's just flat wrong."

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the train pulled out of Englewood yards and got stuck behind a Port Terminal Railroad train, which services the Port of Houston and the downtown area, about 7 a.m.

Based on conversations between the train crews, Davis said, the Union Pacific train waited for the track to clear. But after blocking the crossing at Market for about an hour, its crew decoupled the cars to let traffic through. About 9:30 a.m., he said, the train was finally able to move.

"Our managers in the Houston area have instructed the train crews that if they are going to stop at the location, they are to separate the rail cars," Davis said.

Other intersections, including Lyons Avenue, were closed for varied times.

The incident also caught the attention of neighbors near the crossing on Market near Lockwood.

"I heard people talking about it," said Alfred Fullilove, 53, who added he's been inconvenienced by long waits at train tracks. "Sometimes I can't get to the convenience store over there."

Nadeem Kahn, who owns a service station in the 5400 block of Lyons, said Thursday's delay was nothing new. "It happens all the time," he said.

Robert Ridley, 41, said at a barber shop on Lyons that he has waited for trains for up to half an hour. "I get out of that," said Ridley. "I take other streets around it."

White said he wants the public to call 311 and report trains blocking streets for extended periods. Police will try to get them moving, and the information will help officials record where and how often the problem occurs, he said.

"In parts of the city, this is a persistent and chronic complaint," White said.

In the past, city officials and police said, they could do little. A Houston ordinance provides a maximum fine of $500 for blocking a crossing more than five minutes, but otherwise -- because railroads are engaged in interstate commerce -- federal law limits cities' ability to regulate them.

Long-term solutions, White said, will include cooperation by the railroads, more grade separations and consolidation of rail traffic on fewer rail lines through the city. Until then, White said, "We intend to enforce the laws on the books."

Councilman Michael Berry, chair of City Council's Transportation, Infrastructure and Technology Committee, said he will meet with officials of Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads next week.

"We want them to make this a top priority, give us a point person we can call with authority to get (a train) moved immediately, and give us a 24-hour phone number," Berry said. He said officials of both railroads have agreed to do those things.

Berry said he was told that the engineer in Thursday's blockage was ticketed, but police spokeswoman Sandra Aponte said she could find no citation or offense report.

Davis said a moving train that blocks a crossing while switching cars or doing other such work is engaged in commerce and falls under federal authority.

When Councilwoman Carol Mims Galloway got to the scene Thursday, the train had been decoupled but had not moved on. The crossing on Lyons a few blocks away was also shut down, she said.

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