City Council tackles excessive railroad blockage of intersections and streets
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
Eagle Passans continue to complain regarding the excessive and long periods of time of blockage of city intersections and streets by Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad, causing the Eagle Pass City Council to tackle this issue at its Tuesday, April 15, 2014, special meeting during Executive Session.
This is not new in Eagle Pass. During 2001, the City of Eagle Pass began giving citations to railroad engineers for causing long blockage delays at city intersections and streets. Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad sued the City of Eagle Pass in United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, Texas, seeking to enjoin the City of Eagle Pass from interfering with federal laws which regulate the operation of railroads in the United States. The City of Eagle Pass learned a lesson then that all railroad operations are governed by federal law, not local ordinances
The street intersection blockage problem have recently seen a significant increase since November of 2013 when Union Pacific Railroad introduced a new commercial intermodal service system in its Eagle Pass line. Although this new intermodal, commercial line was set in place to increase commercial trade between the United States and Mexico, it has become a significant headache and safety issue on a daily basis for thousands of commuters within the city limits.
This intermodal system is in operation six days a week according to information released by Union Pacific. Its intended purpose is to give companies in and out of the United States another reliable transportation option to move goods across the border. Union Pacific and Ferromex have made significant terminal, track and equipment investments to optimize the operating success of this new service.
Eagle Pass auto drivers are forced to re-navigate their driving route to one of the three overpasses in the city which connect both sides of town. Among those who have to reroute their driving routes are Eagle Pass Police Department, Eagle Pass Fire Department, and First Responders (EMT) services.
The main concern of local emergency services is the golden hour rule as every second counts when responding to emergency calls. Every second counts when responding to emergency service calls either to transport patients to an appropriate medical facility or responding to a 911 emergency call of a high risk nature. The loss of one or more seconds when responding to an emergency call may make the difference between life and death.
Eagle Passans are going to only see increased railroad car traffic in the community as both Union Pacific and Burlington Northern railroads as Mexico has projected the Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico and Eagle Pass, Texas as their number one railway port of entry. A large railroad yard has been built in Nava, Coahuila, Mexico, adjacent to Piedras Negras, Coahuila, to accomodate Mexico’s increased railway trade with the United States. In addition, Union Pacific Railroad plans to bring more of its Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas railway traffic through Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras railroad bridge and railway port of entry. If the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership open surface mine becomes operational, Dos Republicas plans on shipping daily 150 railroad cars loaded with coal through town into Mexico. Furthermore, the opening of the Mexican Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas play in northern Mexico will cause increased railway traffic through Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras. Many railcars carry toxic and hazardous chemicals through town and local public schools such as Pete Gallego Elementary, Seco Mines Elementary, Liberty Elementary, Glass Elementary, Austin Elementary, Kennedy Hall, and Robert E. Lee Elementary, posing potentially serious public health issues in the event of an accident.
The issue of blockage will only become greater if you factor in the increased trade and rail traffic that is to come in the near future due to the expansion of the Eagle Ford Shale play into Mexico, which experts in the oil and gas industry have stated will increase all types of business in and around the Texas / Mexico border regions including rail road industry business.
Add on the increase of railcars leaving from Eagle Pass into Mexico that will be transporting the coal being mined from the Dos Republicas coal mine and the issue of street intersection blockage is only sure to become a bigger problem in the future.
The City of Eagle Pass ordinance includes some of these issues and concerns as it invokes the Texas Water Code to provide both civil and criminal penalties, including a maximum fine of $1.5 million or a sentence of 30 years in prison for serious environmental offenses. The local ordinance also prohibits the railroad from blocking city streets and intersections for longer than five minutes.
After returning from their Executive Session in Open Session, the City Council instructed the City Attorney Heriberto Morales of Langley & Banack and City Manager Gloria Barrientos to speak with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Railroads regarding their excessive and long blockage of city streets and intersections and the safety concerns of the community.
