Residents speak out after major railroad company blocks railroad crossings with no train passing

ATLANTA — Drivers and neighbors in Hunter Hills said a railroad company blocked an intersection for nearly an hour Wednesday morning.

They said the railroad crossing arms were down at Chappell Rd. NW and Bernard St. from 10:12 a.m. until 11:03 a.m., but no train was passing.

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This is part of an ongoing problem Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco reported less than two weeks ago on April 6.

“If you ask senior residents here, it’s been happening years, 30 plus years,” said Tim Brown.

Viewers sent a video earlier this month of people going so far as to walk across the train cars that blocked the intersection to get to the other side.

This time, neighbors said, it took nine minutes to clear the intersection once the train began passing. That’s when the arms lifted.

They said some drivers took a chance and weaved through the crossing arms before the train passed.

State Rep. Mesha Mainor and City Council Member Byron Amos were in the neighborhood on April 6 to call on the railroad company to produce better results.

They brought a list of times and dated the trains blocked intersections.

The length of the trains that were parked varied from 45 minutes to 30 hours.

“They don’t care this is about money. They step on us,” said John Wright. “That’s what they doing; they’re stepping on us.”

By “they,” he means CSX, a railroad corporation headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Online, it says it earned $14.9 billion in revenue in 2022. That same year, residents started asking CSX to hire someone to help in Hunter Hills.

“It’s not just about traffic but access to emergency vehicles: fire trucks, police cars, ambulance,” said Brown.

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“Given the age of our community, seniors in our community, that’s my biggest concern,” Wright said.

CSX did not respond to requests to comment Wednesday.

April 6, the company responded with a statement that said, “We are aware of the challenges that exist in Hunter Hills and understand our responsibility to be good stewards of the communities through which we operate. CSX is committed to working with Rep. Mainor and we will continue to explore ways to keep lengthy crossing blockages from occurring while maintaining safe and efficient operations.”

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