Block the crossing, get a ticket

[youngengineer]

I don't know of any railroad worker that wants to intentionally block a crossing, While every atempt is made not to block them it happens. I cant wait till they try to arrest an engineer and now the crossing is blocked for hours waiting for another crew.

[coborn35]

I wouldnt want to be a police officer when I A. Illegally board a locomotive, B. Interupt engineer talking and swearing to himself about how slow his conductor is, and C. Give him a huge ticket for something he cannot control.

Brass reverser handles can hurt, lemme tell ya. 

[Datafever]

The Southern - Illinois / March 4, 2007

Local police find remedy for long trains

PERRY COUNTY - There are more than 14,000 different places in Illinois to get stuck waiting for a train to cross the road.

There is no length limit for freight trains, Steve Lafferty of the Illinois Commerce Commission said in a recent telephone interview. The average train is about one mile long, with lengths up to two miles not uncommon. But trains cannot block a crossing for more than 10 minutes.

The Canadian National Railroad was cited on Feb. 20 in Perry County for blocking a crossing too long. The Union Pacific Railroad was cited for the same thing in Perry County in December.

Perry County Sheriff Keith Kellerman said fining an engineer is a little bit trickier than fining a motorist. However, he said, he recognizes that prolonged crossing blockages are a problem. He said the longest delays lately seem to be near the St. Johns community north of Du Quoin. Trains there have blocked the crossing for 15 or 20 minutes, he said.

"We've always tried to address complaints," he said. "We're not always successful. Sometimes by the time we get there, the train is gone. It depends where we are in the county and if we can get to the crossing in time."

State law decrees trains are permitted to block railroad crossings for no longer than 10 minutes. Delays longer than that can result in fines for the railroad company - the longer the crossing is blocked, the higher the fine. A 15-minute crossing blockage can lead to a $500 fine for a railroad. If the blockage is 30 minutes, the fine is $1,000, with an additional $500 for every five minutes after that.

Full story here