http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04/audit-questions-railroads-tally-of-traffic-tie-ups.html
This on top of the CN Amtrak crossing fatality problems.
That was pretty predictable. CN claimed that the added number of trains would be minimal and no serious traffic delays would occur. Right!
I thought modern crossing gate equipment had a “black box” that recorded the time, etc. of each activation event. Would it not be reasonably simple to download the memory and produce an exact record of the duration of each blocked crossing?
The discrepancy seems to be over the definition of “blockage”. The FRA audit seems to count a blockage as any time a train goes through a grade crossing. If that’s the definition, then my morning train causes 5 or 6 blockages every day in Oak Lawn alone, not to mention the rest of the line and the other trains on the line.
You also need to realize the track improvements were not going to come overnight!
BINGO…the two opposing sides of this argument are never going to be satisfied. I live very close to hte former EJ&E main line in Aurora and have not seen what I would consider a problem on the line since the purchase. Everybody must remember that every one of the homeowners who are taking a negative position towards the CN purchased their homes about 100 years plus after the tracks were laid…and (generally) where there are tracks there will be trains…and when railroads buy other railroads it is their right to run as many trains on their tracks as they want to and can run…period.
CN probably only counted the time when a train was stopped, not the time the crossing was occupied. They have been known to set measurement criteria to yield favourable results.
John
Name one large industry or company that hasn’t done that at some point.
Link to news blurb on this on the Railway Age website:
Link to STB Order to CN:
http://www.stb.dot.gov/__85256593004F576F.nsf/0/949EEB4F276D12238525770C004D51B1?OpenDocument
Link to HDR’s Technical Memo / report to STB on Task 4 - Vehicle Delays and Traffic Congestion at Selected Grade Crossings - 20 pages, approx. 4.16 MB in size - note that the crux of it is summarized in the first 3-1/2 pages:
http://www.stbfinancedocket35087.com/html/pdfs/memos/Task4Memo.pdf
Link to HDR’s Technical Memo/ report to the STB on Task 3 - Train Volumes
No, it is not quite as simple as you seem to think. Railroads do not have rights to do whatever they want on their property any more than any of the rest of us do. Many differing jurisdictions have statutes and ordinances covering rail ROW’s.
But does that include train frequencies, lenths or density? Perhaps the goverment can regulate some things, but not these I’ll wager.
Primarily the laws govern sharing with utilities, abandonment and the all important road crossings. The time of occupancy varies from town to town, but the benchmark is usually time of occupancy, whether standing or moving. I remember my father telling me that was a major reason for the Q elevating the tracks through much (not all) of Aurora.
That’s a bit one-sided. The officials of the various communities along the EJ&E have been gunning for the CN from day one.
John Timm
For what it’s worth, that’s exactly how I percieve this issue myself.
The CB&Q (and other lines) used to take the initiative in getting along with the communities along the line. Not so much now, I guess?
You can’t get along with those that don’t want to get along.
Exactly.
Many of the municipalities along the EJ&E (Barrington and Frankfort seem to be the chief culprits) are trying to turn back the clock and maintain the atmosphere of their semi-rural past, even as suburban sprawl reaches out to encircle them. CN is just the most visible target. Many of the residents are wealthy and are trying to keep the masses away by such methods as restrictive zoning, refusal to widen roads, etc. even as more farm families sell out and the subdivisions get built on what once was farm land.
A moving train is considered to be ‘blocking’ the crossing? That is so absurd. That would mean that EVERY vehicle (train, truck, auto, and even pedestrians) are technically guilty of ‘blocking’ someone else’s path.
That would seem to me to be a proper method of measurement. After all, trains occupy crossings–it’s what they do.
I wonder when this attitude of entitlement started. It seems as though these ‘me-generation’ types just go crazy when someone or something dares to encroach on the precious little controlled world in which they live.