Trussville eyes federal funding for railroad crossing elimination program

Time indeed may be money.

In late 2021, a train blocked the downtown Trussville railroad crossing for 10 days. Since then, blockages, albeit not for 10 consecutive days, have continued. Most recently, on Saturday, June 25, various railroad crossings in Trussville were blocked multiple times for long periods of time.

Several residents came to the Trussville City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 28, to voice their concerns. One resident said a train stopped at the Camp Coleman Road railroad crossing at 9:05 a.m. and the train was disconnected so motorists could pass through at 10:21 a.m. Trussville Fire Chief Tim Shotts said the train was disconnected 35 minutes from the time Norfolk Southern was notified.

“We are doing all that we can from a city perspective to alleviate the train issues,” said Councilman Ben Short.

Another resident said she helps a relative in the Camp Coleman Road area — groceries, clothes, help around the house — and was unable to help Saturday, June 25.

“We were trapped,” she said. “We had no way in or out. I think what happened Saturday and the blocking is my breaking point. We need some kind of hope.”

At that point in the meeting, Councilwoman Lisa Bright may have outlined what could be that hope.

Bright was already scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., in late July for a delayed-since-2020 Appalachian Leadership Institute graduation, but she also met with U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville and U.S. Reps. Gary Palmer and Terri Sewell, as well as representatives from Norfolk Southern and the city of Birmingham to discuss a potential project to alleviate train backup in the area. Bright said the day after her July 27 meetings in Washington D.C. that there were no new updates on the matter, that “we are in the early stages right now.”

Two days after the city council meeting, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a notice of funding opportunity of more than $573 million in available grant funding this year for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Program, a discretionary grant program that aims to improve safety, eliminate lengthy delays at railroad crossing and lower the costs of transporting goods.

Time is money.

Bright said the goal is to collaborate with Birmingham, Irondale and Norfolk Southern to alleviate train backup in the area. Birmingham is south of the Norfolk Southern Norris Yard in Irondale, while Trussville is to the north. When the Norris Yard, a hub for trains, backs up with parked trains or trains being unloaded, Trussville feels the impact.

The “early” plan, Bright said, would be to construct a bridge, much like Watterson Parkway, over the railroad crossing on Mary Taylor Road, which includes portions of both the Trussville and Birmingham city limits. Additionally, a bridge could allow Norfolk Southern approximately eight miles to stop trains that would not block crossings in Trussville while offering motorists an alternative route. The price tag is estimated around $52 million, and all three cities — Birmingham, Irondale and Trussville — would collaborate on the grant. The project, if approved, would take about two years, Bright said.

“We’re trying to make some big changes because we can’t bridge down at Deerfoot [Parkway] and Camp Coleman [Road],” Bright said. “There’s not enough room there. I wish we could.”

Norfolk Southern also has space, Bright said, to construct side tracks along the current railroad tracks for more parking.

“We’ve got to make big changes,” Bright said. “Working with Birmingham is key, because they’re a huge driving engine, no pun intended. They’ll help us be able to get this going, because it affects them as it affects Irondale as it affects us. It’s not an answer-all, but it’ll definitely give Norfolk Southern more parking room and Trussville some relief from trains stopping non-maintenance involved.”

Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, introduced a bill in the Alabama House of Representatives earlier this year that would prohibit trains from blocking Alabama railroad crossings. The House passed the bill in March with a 95-1 vote. The bill did not make it to the Alabama Senate before the legislative session ended, meaning that Garrett would need to make any tweaks and re-file the bill at the next session in early 2023.

Specifically, the bill states that “except for trains stopped due to mechanical failure, derailment, or other unforeseeable events outside the control of the rail carrier, where separation or movement is not possible, and except for trains stopped as required by federal law, any train that has come to a complete stop and is blocking a railroad-highway grade crossing for two or more continuous hours shall be cut, separated, or moved to clear the crossing upon the approach of any authorized emergency vehicle.”

The bill calls for the rail carrier to pay a civil penalty of $5,000 for each hour the train blocks the crossing, provided the penalty does not exceed $50,000. The attorney general or governing body of a local county or city “may file an emergency petition with a court of competent jurisdiction to request the public nuisance to be abated. The court may grant the petition and order the train to be cut, separated, or moved to allow passage through the railroad-highway grade crossing by an approaching authorized emergency vehicle.”

“This situation is avoidable,” Garrett said. “You either adjust your scheduling, adjust your modeling so you don’t have these backups, these backlogs, or if you do, then you break the train. This is a safety issue, and it’s avoidable.”

The Trussville City Council on March 8 approved a resolution supporting the bill. Garrett likened backups at Norris Yard in Irondale to an airplane landing and having no airport gate available.

“That’s the situation here,” he said. “You’re landing airplanes without a gate, and you’re sitting there for two hours waiting on a gate. Trains are miles long, so you have to plan around these things. There’s not a spot for that train to switch or to unload or to park in the yard, so we have to wait for something to move out.”

Locally, Trussville is working on a connector road from Commerce Lane to Camp Coleman Road that could “offer some help,” Bright said. Trussville’s 2040 Plan shows an opportunity for vehicular and pedestrian connections between Roper Road and Camp Coleman Road, which could help in the long run.

“It’s early, but it’s taking a step on the high level,” Bright said. “Everything railroad is federal, so you may as well start there. So that’s what our plan is, to work with Birmingham and Norfolk Southern and get this thing going.”