WEYAUWEGA, Wis. — Canadian National’s Wisconsin Central Railroad subsidiary has appealed a decision that favors the city of Weyauwega's attempts to stop trains from blocking road crossings. On Oct. 9, Waupaca County Judge Vicki Clussman...
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/11/29-weyauwega-court
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
Just because they might legally be allowed to block crossings, doesn't mean that they should do it. We all understand fouling crossings for passing trains and the occasional meet situation, but leaving a train standing cutting a town in half for 6 hours should be considered unacceptable business practices. Trucking firms don't park their rigs in the right lane of the road when the driver's time runs out, and the railroad should do as much as possible to be a good neighbor by attempting to alleviate the problem rather than this - I contend pointless - litigation - in the grand scheme of things.
Now perhaps the railroad and town have some how or another tried to fix this issue other ways, such as an agreement to constructing an overpass. That we don't know. But I'd suggest that while I generally would agree with the railroad's right to use their right-of-way, routinely hampering the movement of the public by blocking crossings for extended periods of time is not good business practice.
Now I'm sure CN knows this, of course, but for all of the complaints we've been seeing the last couple of years, I think that the industry should do more. No it won't help the bottom line, but when it comes to other issues the railroad best not be in the public's distrust.
And that, actually, is why I think the court ruled against CN in this case. If they've shown a pattern of disregarding this town, then maybe the court decided to employ a ruling which while on thin legal ground, might get CN to run some recalculations.
I understand that road authorities and railroads are generally in a duel about who pays, but in the end it's what needs to be done in many cases and the complaints generally subside as the railroad and road network are no longer entangled, allowing both to go about their business in general ignorance of the other, which I'd contend is the best-case solution to the problem.
I am surprised CN/WC ever thought they could get away with this, the regulations around blocking crossings must be much less restrictive in the U.S. as opposed to Canada.
In the Great White North federal law prohibits stopping on crossings for more than 5 minutes, if traffic is waiting to cross. The 5 minute clock starts the instant a vehicle shows up. Switching operations are not allowed to block a crossing for more than 5 minutes at a time. If you are caught it is the crew who will be fined, not just the company. There have also been managers fined or charged after ordering crews to violate this rule.
In many cases it is impossible to comply with the 5 minute limit exactly (pumping air, setting/releasing handbrakes etc), but as long as you try to clear the crossing as quickly as possible nothing will be said about it. 6 hours is absolutely insane though, and I have never heard of such a thing happening up here.
Perhaps the FRA could take a page out of Transport Canada's book on how to regulate crossings.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
I suspect there is a history of the size of War & Peace behind this ruling and the actions that brought the original suit.
I don't know the town or the physical characteristics surrounding the crossings. If you have 3 crossings that constitute the 'town' you can stop short of the crossings on either end of the 3 if you are waiting for the next crew to move the train. Tie the train down (SECURE IT) and get a taxi to the yard office. The other action would be to cut the crossings - of course of those portions were off air for over 4 hours then a Class 1 air test would be required on those portions once the train was coupled back together - which would tie up the crossings for the better part of a hour or more.
Sounds like we have a 'failure to communicate' between CN and the town - who is the blame - Lord only knows.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Took a look at the satellite image(N 44 19' 46" W 88 56' 1"). There is a passing siding pretty much centered on the village/city, which I suspect is the source of the problem.
One of the crossings has a building marked "hospital" on the image, but the lack of vehicles surrounding it suggest that it no longer serves that purpose - if it were active, that would certainly be enough to spark outrage.
The other two do appear to be main roads, and cutting them off would definitely limit access from the town to points north. This would not only be a problem for emergency services, but for school busses, not to mention the inconvenience of a long detour for residents, etc.
The siding raises the question of whether the parked trains are being held on the main, or on the siding. There are stretches of track, especially to the east of town, where a sizeable train could be parked on the main without blocking any crossings. However, if the railroad's desire is to hold a train in siding for whatever reason, but to keep the main clear for other traffic, then they're stuck in the middle of Weywauwega...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68Took a look at the satellite image(N 44 19' 46" W 88 56' 1"). There is a passing siding pretty much centered on the village/city, which I suspect is the source of the problem. One of the crossings has a building marked "hospital" on the image, but the lack of vehicles surrounding it suggest that it no longer serves that purpose - if it were active, that would certainly be enough to spark outrage. The other two do appear to be main roads, and cutting them off would definitely limit access from the town to points north. This would not only be a problem for emergency services, but for school busses, not to mention the inconvenience of a long detour for residents, etc. The siding raises the question of whether the parked trains are being held on the main, or on the siding. There are stretches of track, especially to the east of town, where a sizeable train could be parked on the main without blocking any crossings. However, if the railroad's desire is to hold a train in siding for whatever reason, but to keep the main clear for other traffic, then they're stuck in the middle of Weywauwega...
If the railroad KNOWS it will be holding a train at the siding location - either on the Main or the siding, it then becomes their obligation to cut the road crossings in the name of Public Safety. To do otherwise is, to my mind, CRIMINAL.
BaltACDIf the railroad KNOWS it will be holding a train at the siding location - either on the Main or the siding, it then becomes their obligation to cut the road crossings in the name of Public Safety. To do otherwise is, to my mind, CRIMINAL.
Which would appear to be the reason for the ordinance in question.
tree68 BaltACD If the railroad KNOWS it will be holding a train at the siding location - either on the Main or the siding, it then becomes their obligation to cut the road crossings in the name of Public Safety. To do otherwise is, to my mind, CRIMINAL.
BaltACD If the railroad KNOWS it will be holding a train at the siding location - either on the Main or the siding, it then becomes their obligation to cut the road crossings in the name of Public Safety. To do otherwise is, to my mind, CRIMINAL.
Of course a quick trip to federal court usually nullifies any ordinance detrimental to a RR !
charlie hebdoWeywauwega was the site of a bad rail accident ~20 years ago. It caused the evacuation of the entire town for several days. No wonder they are sensitive to rail problems.
The other item is that this siding appears to be new, since it shows up in the current overhead imagery but not in 2009 StreetView images from the main road. So it appears that CN recently installed a siding, beginning at the main drag, and heading west.
This is interesting because it seems like a somewhat poor choice for a new siding. Perhaps it was the only level ground, I don't know that railroad all to well, but at the very least it clearly wasn't constructed to the best handling of roadway traffic. I'd be curious as to if this train in question was so long as to block the main drag, which it near enough to the end of the siding where it wouldn't ordinarily be a problem to hold short of.
Now we're all familiar with sidings running right through town for historical reasons, but new sidings? Maybe not the best. I'd be curious to know the circumstances behind the decision to locate it there.
FWIW this is on CN's main artery from Chicagoland to Winnepeg, so it's fairly busy.
SaturnaliaThe other item is that this siding appears to be new, since it shows up in the current overhead imagery but not in 2009 StreetView images from the main road. So it appears that CN recently installed a siding, beginning at the main drag, and heading west.
Dunno about that - the 1958 topo shows two tracks through town. The HistoricAerials aerial images don't have good resolution, but I do see indications of two tracks there as well in the 1969 image.
tree68 Saturnalia The other item is that this siding appears to be new, since it shows up in the current overhead imagery but not in 2009 StreetView images from the main road. So it appears that CN recently installed a siding, beginning at the main drag, and heading west. Dunno about that - the 1958 topo shows two tracks through town. The HistoricAerials aerial images don't have good resolution, but I do see indications of two tracks there as well in the 1969 image.
Saturnalia The other item is that this siding appears to be new, since it shows up in the current overhead imagery but not in 2009 StreetView images from the main road. So it appears that CN recently installed a siding, beginning at the main drag, and heading west.
Don't overlook the 'Plant Rationalization' pogrom that all carriers undertook after the passage of Staggers - get rid of double track, extend the distance between sidings, etc. etc. etc. What was then in 1969 could well have been gone in 1982 and not seen as necessary until 2010-2015.
BaltACD tree68 Saturnalia The other item is that this siding appears to be new, since it shows up in the current overhead imagery but not in 2009 StreetView images from the main road. So it appears that CN recently installed a siding, beginning at the main drag, and heading west. Dunno about that - the 1958 topo shows two tracks through town. The HistoricAerials aerial images don't have good resolution, but I do see indications of two tracks there as well in the 1969 image. Don't overlook the 'Plant Rationalization' pogrom that all carriers undertook after the passage of Staggers - get rid of double track, extend the distance between sidings, etc. etc. etc. What was then in 1969 could well have been gone in 1982 and not seen as necessary until 2010-2015.
It does appear that there were generally two tracks present even in the earlier imagery, but they were short uncontrolled sidings, presumably for local traffic. It is the current aerials which show a controlled siding with track conditions similar to the main with CTC signals on both end, which are not present in the old StreetView images.
Current aerials:
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.3293783,-88.9334248,260m/data=!3m1!1e3
Old Streetview from 2009:
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.3295514,-88.9338502,3a,67.9y,249.51h,84.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1WK639cbSSJpN5pJ5-H5XA!2e0!7i3328!8i1664
blue streak 1 tree68 BaltACD If the railroad KNOWS it will be holding a train at the siding location - either on the Main or the siding, it then becomes their obligation to cut the road crossings in the name of Public Safety. To do otherwise is, to my mind, CRIMINAL. Of course a quick trip to federal court usually nullifies any ordinance detrimental to a RR !
As was recently stated in the Des Moines Register.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/10/26/downtown-des-moines-trains-blocking-traffic-miffs-commuters/800485001/
Jeff
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