NORFOLK, Va. — Passing trains are a way of life here in Hampton Roads, but sometimes, those trains overstay their welcome by sitting on the tracks, often causing traffic backups and sometimes blocking first responders.
Now, the City of Norfolk is encouraging people to report a blocked crossing to the Federal Railroad Administration.
On Friday afternoon, we pulled up to the train tracks at the intersection of Colonial Avenue and 23rd Street as a Norfolk Southern train was passing through. As they often do, the train stopped, blocking the railroad crossing.
What started as a 13-minute stop, turned into 30 minutes, then an hour, when the train finally began to move again.
During that time, cars made U-turns and half a dozen pedestrians jumped through the train cars to get to the other side.
David Read, who lives in the area, said that blockage is not unusual.
"It really stops my day. I mean, it adds an extra 20 minutes to my commute. It’s annoying. I’m just trying to get from point A to point B in a timely fashion," said Read. "The train really puts a dent in that."
Out-of-towner Steven Lieb got caught by the stopped train.
"Got stuck in the traffic, sat there for about 20 minutes," he said.
He then learned about the underpasses on Monticello and Colley Avenue to take a detour.
"Tried to give it a little time, but it’s just too much," said Lieb.
The underpasses are a workaround for the Ghent area, but those can often bottleneck at rush hour. As for crossings like Wards Corner, people there say you just have to wait.
Now, officials with the City of Norfolk are reminding people that you can report blocked crossings to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Virginia Code prohibits a train from blocking a crossing for longer than five minutes. However, due to the federal nature of the railway system, that state code is unenforceable.
Online, city staff say this is a national problem because train companies try to reduce costs by increasing train length. States are asking the FRA to develop regulations to address the problem because they're the only entity that can do so.
A bill in the Virginia General Assembly aimed to limit the length of trains and increase the fine for blocking railway crossings, but that portion of the bill did not make it through the House. The legislation would have increased the fine to companies if they left a train blocking an intersection for over five minutes from $100 to $500 and limited train lengths to about 1.6 miles on mainline and branch lines.
Del. Shelly Simonds said the bill was narrowed down, and only kept the portion regarding a "two-person crew," meaning two people must be there to operate the train so someone can respond to emergencies.
"We still need to pass laws at the federal and state level to address the length of trains and to ensure the industry uses the latest safety technologies. If the federal government won’t demand railroad safety, then states have to do it," Simonds said in an email.
In the meantime, Charles Rasputin said the blockages are something residents have to learn to live with and find paths around.
"It’s just sort of part of the fabric of where we live here," he said. "It’s about helping our neighbors that don’t understand that they can go around, find those paths so they’re ready even if they’re in a hurry."
In a post 13News Now reporter Sarah Hammond made on social media, 140 commenters joined the conversation surrounding the trains. Some echoed Rasputin's thought process about the rail companies having a job to do and the complaints that could make the job of conductors and mechanics harder.
Others chimed in saying they've been late to work, school, or doctor's appointments because they were stuck for 30 to 40 minutes.
Some, including Rasputin, offered the suggestion of having the stoplights timed better at the underpasses in Ghent to help when traffic backs up.
For trains crossing at Terminal and Hampton Boulevards, you can text NFKTrain to 888-777 to know when that's happening, but that option doesn't exist for the other blocked areas.
To make a report to the FRA, you can contact the railroad using the number listed on the blue sign posted at the crossing. You can also file a blocked crossing report here.