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Longer trains lead to delays for first responders in the Illinois Valley · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Longer trains lead to delays for first responders in the
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  Illinois Valley. Written by Matthias Werner and Bill Frescos, this
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  article is being read by an automated voice brought to
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  you by Everlett. A nationwide issue touched down in the
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  Illinois Valley last month when a stopped freight train stood
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  still in Mendota for close to four hours, halting traffic,
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  disrupting travel and tying up law enforcement. The stop train
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  belonged to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company, one
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  of the most prevalent freight companies in the country and
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  a fixture in northern Illinois. The May twenty eighth stoppage
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  is the most recent and local instance of freight trains
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  wreaking havoc on motorists, but it is far from an
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  isolated occasion. BNSF trains operate twenty four hours a day,
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  seven days a week. We do our best to limit
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  the amount of time any crossing is BLOCKEDNFA SEV spokesperson
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  Kendel Sloan said response to the Mendoda incident. Our business
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  and our customers depend on BNSF to keep our trains moving,
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  Sloane said, when our trains experience a situation that forces
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  them to stop. BNSF works to correct or resolve the
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  situation as quickly as possible to resume the safe movement
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  of trains. Even with the commitment to improving responses to
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  stoppages and delays, local emergency response groups have experienced problems
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  working effectively around them. Mendota Fire Chief Dennis Rutteshauser said
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  that whenever trains are stopped, all downtown crossings are blocked
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  for a considerable amount of time, and the closest alternative
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  route through the Fourth Avenue Viaduct is inaccessible for the
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  department's larger trucks. Rudeshauser also said that alerting dispatch can
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  only help so much with stop trains given the regulations
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  in place. Even though the State of Illinois state's maximum
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  time for blocking crossings is ten minutes, the railroad operates
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  under federal regulations which do not give time limits. He said.
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  Other area municipalities, fire and police departments concerns are similar.
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  Block crossings delay response times when every second matters. Ottawa
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  Fire Chief Brian Bresner said his department has noticed freight
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  traffic has become more disruptive as trains have grown longer
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  in recent years. As train lengths have increased in recent years,
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  the challenges associated with block crossings have become more noticeable
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  and can have a direct impact on emergency response operations.
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  Bresner said, so have freight trains gotten longer. According to
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  a US Government Accountability Office report, the average freight trained
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  lengths at two major railroads increased by about twenty five
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  percent between twenty eight and twenty seventeen, and all seven
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  Class one railroads reported longer than average trains, some stretching
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  nearly three miles despite having contingency routes in place. Each
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  department agrees that even small detours can be critical in emergencies.
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  Seconds matter when responding to violent crimes in progress or
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  car accidents with injuries. Ottawa Deputy Chief Kyle Buris said
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  fire can sometimes quadruple in size every minute. Princeton Fire
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  Chief Scott Etheridge said, noting that EMS response delays can
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  significantly reduce survivability in cardiac arrest cases. He also said
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  rerouting around crossings can add miles and minutes during calls.
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  In Straetor, Police Chief Robert Wood preached a similar sentiment
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  explaining freight trains definitely impact response times. Although the city's
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  viaduct and underpasses provide some alternate routes, it can still
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  cause delays in service depending on where the call is.
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  Wood said when tracks are blocked for a longer period
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  of time, officers are made aware of this through dispatch,
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  which allows for better planning for response to calls as
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  we know which crossings are affected. There is hope for
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  a solution in the U. S Illinois Valley soon. Sloane
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  said that BNSF stands ready to work with the local
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  community if they bring forward a workable solution. However, Sloane
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  notes that the workable solution would have to be brought
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  forward by local municipalities, something BNSF frequently encounters every day.
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  The railroad works with multiple governments throughout the region to
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  advance similar projects, he said,