The Corporation Commission has initiated its review of possible new rules and regulations governing railroads in the state. And as OK Energy Today reported earlier in the week, one focus is the blocking of railroad crossings by trains.
Here’s how News 9 TV reported the hearing.
It’s a sight that can easily derail your whole day: a train stopped on the tracks blocking traffic in every direction. Now the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is looking into doing something about it.
City of Edmond spokesperson Casey Moore says they may have all started with them. They took a look at footage from a camera mounted on a building and found on main street between June 25, 2018 and August 5. 2018 trains blocked the intersection for a total of 53 hours and 15 minutes.
“We have eleven crossings in our city limits and our stopped train will typically block five to seven of those crossings and do so immediately,” said Moore. “Half of the crossings in our community is blocked.”
Moore testified at a Corporation Commission hearing Wednesday on the proposed rules.
“That does create issues with traffic which in turn creates an issue with public safety emergency vehicles to get where they need to.”
Moore said pedestrians, including students at North High School will sometimes crawl through the cars of stopped trains.
It’s already against the rules for stopped trains to block a railroad crossing for more than 10 minutes. Commission staff is proposing changes that would allow commissioners to audit habitual offenders and increase fines to $500 dollars per incident per day.
“There can be several technical conferences as we move through the process and language is changes and maybe new proposals are made,” explained Corporation Commission spokesperson Matt Skinner.
Officials with the Railroad were also at today’s hearing. One attorney representing the rail roads said they don’t keep track of how long they are blocking an intersection so there’s no way to do an audit.
The Director of Public Projects for BSNF said they have received information about the issues in Edmond and it’s their priority to keep things moving as much as possible.
“There is no incentive for the railroad to occupy crossings longer than they would have to”
There will be another public comment hearing on February 5th and then the Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the new rules the end of February. If commissioners agree to the rules they will be sent to the legislature for approval.