Hattiesburg officials look for answers to train dilemma

According to a Hattiesburg ordinance, any train that stops at the intersection of a street "shall so uncouple the cars as not to obstruct travel thereon for a longer period than five minutes."

But the hustle and bustle required of the four railway companies that service the Hub City — Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, Kansas City Southern and Amtrak — has led to trains stopped at intersections for much longer than that allotted time, raising the ire of many commuters and city officials.

"They're all over town, but the ones that seem to impact people more than any other are the ones in downtown Hattiesburg — Mobile (Street), Main Street, Southern Avenue, going down to Hall (Avenue)," Mayor Johnny DuPree said. "Then you've got the ones that cross James Street, so that's not allowing people to travel from east to west.

"I sat there behind a train for 35 minutes last week."

Ditto for Ward 4 Councilwoman Mary Dryden, who said she recently had trouble with the intersection near Front and Mobile streets.

"I went to Coney Island (Cafe) one day, and I had to go around to get there," she said. "So I just sat there and watched that train at that intersection. And what they'll do is move a little bit forward and a little bit back.

"Apparently, what this has to do with is that the switching yard is (in downtown), and these trains are just so long."

Fortunately, railroad officials have a process in place to help combat that exact problem. Canadian National divisional train master Maurice Floyd — who was able to confer with City Council members at a recent meeting — said that process entails leaving the trains south of town and making the necessary moves there, rather than bringing entire trains into town.

"So once I'm coming into the middle of town, I'm completely leaving town, therefore I won't have any crossings blocked," he said. "This has been implemented for about three weeks on the Canadian National side of town, and we have not had a report of any road crossings blocked."

Another issue the council raised was the time of day the trains operated, as many crossings were being blocked from 5-7 p.m., making after-work travel inconvenient for motorists. Floyd also has worked to alleviate that issue, as the Canadian National lines have altered their schedules a bit.

"The new process is, is that we don't come to town during that time of day," Floyd said. "We now do all our work in our yards, and once we come to town, we leave. We just cross over the crossing and keep going."

Canadian National also greatly reduced night movement on the trains for safety reasons.

"We had several accidents, people running underneath the trains or on side of the trains when they couldn't see," Floyd said. "So I reduced the night traffic and put it mostly on days to eliminate that kind of thing."

Susan Terpay, director of public relations at Norfolk Southern, said her company also makes every effort to minimize the time that it interrupts motor vehicle traffic.

"Our business depends on keeping trains moving," she said. "From our Hattiesburg rail yard, we serve 45 local customers within a 60-mile radius who depend on the railroad to deliver their goods to keep their operations running. We are committed to meeting with and working with the community leaders to minimize the impact of blocked crossings wherever possible."

There are two other proposals that may help alleviate the situation even more, with the first being to move the downtown switching station to a location with more space.

"That would be the ultimate solution," DuPree said. "What I was talking about was maybe moving it to Camp Shelby. But we started (talking about it) seven or eight years ago, and found that the cost was going to be probably $300 (million)-$400 million, and there's just not that kind of money out there."

Another option would be to build overpasses above the intersections, which the city has looked into unsuccessfully in the past.

"We've attempted many times to get a Tiger Grant to do that, and it hasn't happened — they're very hard to get," Dryden said. "It takes four different overpasses to solve the problem that way, and we just don't have the money to construct that.

"So to me, a less expensive option is moving the switching yard, but that's still expensive. I don't think the railroads have the money — I think they're struggling for money at this point — and the city can't afford to pay for that."

So the question remains: If the money for construction is ever to become available, where would it come from?

"Well, it takes a very concerted effort of the private and public sector coming together to make good things happen," Dryden said. "The government only has the revenue that it gets from our tax base — we don't have money growing on trees anywhere.

"So it really takes private citizens who care about the community working in tandem with our government — we have to come up with solutions together. So if our business community can see a way that this can happen, if property owners see a way that this can happen, if the altruistic people in our community can suggest ways that things can work together — that's how we have these things happen for Hattiesburg."

To learn more

For more information on Hattiesburg's train ordinances, visit www.hattiesburgms.com.

For more information on state laws regarding railroad crossings, visit the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration's website at www.fra.dot.gov/statelaws.