Atlanta

Atlanta City Council member: CSX continues to ‘bully and disrespect’ residents with stalled trains

ATLANTA — An Atlanta City Council member is fighting back against what she calls corporate bullying and disrespect of residents on Atlanta’s west side.

Channel 2 Action News has shown you trains stalled and blocking roads, which forces people to detour around them.

Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach attended the city’s transportation committee meeting at City Hall Wednesday where one councilmember introduced a resolution to help stop trains from continuing to stall in one area of northwest Atlanta.

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Trains move through a Westside Atlanta neighborhood across Chappell Road daily.

But instead of the train cars rolling by and the crossing quickly reopening, neighbors say trains often stall and block the road for hours.

“We’re going to continue to fight until we see a change... until we see some results,” resident Tim Brown said.

Neighbors in the Hunter Hills community documented more than 10 blockages dating to last year, one of them up to 30 hours.

A mother who lives on one side of the tracks crosses to get to her child’s bus stop on the other side.

She has not seen trains actually stop and doesn’t see a need for City Hall to step in.

“I don’t see a sense in fining the actual train when there’s a train track right here for it to travel on,” Dikara Johnson said.

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At Tuesday morning’s Atlanta transportation committee meeting, councilmember Keisha Waites introduced a resolution to ask the state legislature and US Congress to pass new laws limiting the length of trains and the time they can block a crossing, then fine the railroad if they don’t comply.

Waites called out CSX saying the railroad company continues to bully and disrespect residents.

Channel 2 reached out to CSX for a response.

In a statement earlier this month, a spokesperson for the railroad company said they continue “to explore ways to keep blockages from occurring while maintaining safe and efficient operations.”

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