Frankfort was hampered again Tuesday morning with a train stopped blocking several intersections for nearly two hours. After a firestorm of local residents complaining on Facebook and to WILO, Frankfort Police Chief Scott Shoemaker addressed the issue in a Facebook Post. We have posted it verbatim below:
Railroad Crossing Delays
Today, the city was put in a traffic gridlock due to a train blocking downtown and to the west for over an hour. Ironically, as I type this, a train whistle is blaring outside my office. With police access off Williams and Maish roads and fire stations north of the railroad tracks, the city was ready with first responders for any emergency situation.
Until 2018, Indiana law authorized our department to issue citations to rail companies for blocking street crossing for more than ten minutes. The Indiana Supreme Court struck down this law that had been utilized since 1865. According to the court, the Indiana law conflicted with the 1995 Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act. The act does not allow states to create law that governs the railroad.
While we fully support rail transportation and its rich history in our city and country, we are not happy about an hour-long delay either.
We can only enforce laws, we do not create them.
What can we all do about it? We can contact our Senators and/or Representative.
Senator Todd Young https://www.young.senate.gov/contact
Senator Mike Braun https://www.braun.senate.gov/contact-mike
Representative Jim Baird https://baird.house.gov/contact/
Report blocked crossings https://www.fra.dot.gov/blockedcrossings/
Sincerely,
Chief Scott Shoemaker