| OCR Text |
Show 1 In Our Opinion Towns want scoop from Union Pacific Does the railroad have an attitude? For several years Davis County cities have complained about being "railroaded' by Union Pacific officials. It seems that no matter what action they take against the super power, the railroad comes out the victor. As one councilman put it, "They stroke us on the head and say 'there, there, and then they disappear." What is the problem? Why can't Woods Cross, West Bountiful Boun-tiful and North Salt Lake get a straight answer from Union Pacific when they question its methods of operation? Attorneys advising the cities have told them they do have some legal recourse in fighting for their rights against the railroads. But so far none of those rights have been realized. Several years ago Woods Cross passed an ordinance forbidding forbid-ding Union Pacific to blow whistles as trains passed over crossings within city limits. For years the whistle had blown periodically as trains passed pass-ed through the city, but as rail traffic increased the whistles sounded more and more frequently. City officials reasoned that the flashing lights and barricades on the crossings were warning warn-ing enough for traffic. After investigating the legal ramifications ramifica-tions and finding they could do so, the city passed the ordinance. or-dinance. The railroad responded by sending a cadre of high power attorneys at-torneys and company officials to a city council meeting where they showed slide presentation of all the fatal accidents that had occurred at railroad crossings. The result was a rescinding of the ordinance. Although it is I the responsibility of the railroad to keep crossing signals and 1 amis in good repair, the officials warned Woods Cross they do I not always work. Therefore, the city had no choice but to rescind res-cind the ordinance. They had to take on the responsibility of safety that should be the railroad's. Railroad 1, Cities 0. In recent action, North Salt Lake decided it could "take on the big boys," and demand that Union Pacific stop blocking the crossings in the city for long periods of time. The fire station that services the west industrial area is on the east side of the tracks. The city argued that the tracks need to be clear I within the state-allotted time of five minutes to avoid safety hazards. I Once again the railroad has prevailed. Although the city imposed im-posed a mandatory $500 fine for incidents when the trains I block the crossings longer, there has been no change in Union Pacific's policy. When railroad officials met with the city council recently, they said that they had no way of knowing whether or not a train is blocking an intersection, which is hard to believe, and they suggested residents who are held up for long periods of time should call "and they would get the crossing cross-ing cleared." If the crossing can be cleared by simply making a phone call, why don't they just clear the crossing? Federal law allows trains to block an intersection for longer than five minutes for safety reasons. What about the safety of those who cannot get fire or medical treatment because the train is blocking the crossing? One official reported that a man who had suffered a massive heart attack could not be transported to the hospital across the North Salt Lake tracks, as they were blocked by a train. The man died before he could reach the hospital along another route. Railroad 2, Cities 0. Now West Bountiful is hoping to convince Union Pacific to cut down on whistle blowing and to stop blocking crossings in the city. They are also asking Southern Pacific not to reopen a track that residents were promised would never be used again. The track was closed in 1984, and since that time many new homes have been built near the line. If the line reopens, there is a question of whether or not those homeowners must refinance their homes with funds other than FHA funds. FHA does not loan money on homes that are within a certain distance of railroad lines. To date the city has made no progress in its attempts to mitigate the problems it faces as a result of railroad traffic. Railroad 3, Cities 0. There's got to be a way to even the score. The railroads say they were here first and the cities should just learn to live with it. But must they learn to live with it solely on the railroad's terms? Railroad officials owe south Davis County cities more than Up service. If as they say there is a major bottleneck at the Salt Lake railroad station, then it's the responsibility of the railroad to solve the problem. It's not going to improve and Davis County is sick of being the solution to the railroad's I problem. Maybe Union Pacific and the Utah Department of Transportation Transpor-tation should put their heads together and plan to build some overpasses across critical traffic lanes in Davis County. The cities know that fining Union Pacific $500 is like using sanctions sanc-tions to get Hussein out of Kuwait. It doesn't work. One thing is certain, the problem is not going to go away, and it's not the responsibility of Davis County to solve it. Cities shouldn't have to use taxpayers' funds to hire attorneys to get the railroad to obey the law. L |
