While only briefly addressed in Wednesday’s meeting of the Warsaw Traffic Commission, problems caused by trains moving through the city will not likely see any kind of resolution anytime soon.

Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer has been trying to address complaints of trains traveling on the north-south Norfolk Southern rail lines that stop and block crossings for what has been noted for as many as two hours at a time. He has also been inquiring on how Warsaw can reduce the number of car v. train crashes that commonly occur at ungated crossings, especially at Market street.

To the traffic commission yesterday, Thallemer read an email he received from Charles Carson, Fort Wayne District Railroad and Utilities engineer for
Indiana Department of Transportation. It is INDOT that makes the determination of where crossing gates should be installed.

Carson wrote, “You should know that generally the railroads were in place first and usually have superior rights. Their main concern is safety of movement along the rails, not across the rails. The road owner is responsible for traffic on their road.”

Additionally, Carson noted INDOT receives federal highway funds for the purpose of equipping gates at the most hazardous crossings, but added, “When you consider there are about 6,000 railroad crossings in Indiana it takes awhile to get to them all. You can get the railroad (and the state of Indiana) to contribute funds for closing railroad crossings – the idea being no crossing is a safe crossing.”

Still, Carson agreed to have an INDOT crew examine crossings in downtown Warsaw at Main, Market and Winona streets. Later yesterday afternoon, Thallemer received an update from Carson which simply said the crossings were examined on Tuesday. He wrote, “The conditions were noted, and the concerns were forwarded to our Safety Engineer for his consideration and recommendations. Designing gates for your crossings is challenging.”

Warsaw Police Lt. Kip Shuter said that any time a vehicle collides with a train, residents can expect crossings to be blocked for a minimum of two hours. That is because railroad crews must come to the scene and then inspect each car on the train to make sure it is safe to move.

Since January, local residents have been complaining that some of the main crossings are being blocked by stopped trains for hours at a time. Thallemer said those same complaints were recently voiced at a meeting of the MACOG Policy Board, which is made up of mayors and other elected officials from northern Indiana.

Representatives of Norfolk Southern have been invited to MACOG’s next meeting and asked to address reasons for the excessive delays and solutions to the problems.

See related stories:
RR Spokesman: ‘Growth’ Behind Blocked Crossings
Excessive Train Delays Irk Local Residents
Blocked RR Crossings Cause Concerns