Railroad companies would be required to report incidents of blocked crossings under a bill heard March 6 by the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee.
Under LB234, sponsored by Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, railroads would report annually to the Public Service Commission and the Nebraska State Patrol regarding blocked crossings, beginning Nov. 1, 2024.
Data would include the number of complaints received, the dates and locations of blocked crossings and any action taken by the companies to resolve those complaints. The PSC then would provide a report to the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, including any recommendations, each Dec. 1.
Walz said she would offer an amendment to have the report also provided to the state Department of Transportation and to specify that data would be gathered for incidents in which a railroad crossing is blocked for more than 10 minutes.
Such data reporting would help the Legislature understand the scope of the problem and how to address it, she said. Currently, senators rely on anecdotal information from their constituents regarding kids being made late for school, first responders delayed during emergency calls and people dying from trying to pass between rail cars.
“While these stories are all too common, we don’t have the data to understand how common the issue is,” Walz said.
Lincoln County Commissioner Chris Bruns testified in support of the proposal. Blocked crossings occur in rural parts of the state on a regular basis, he said, and often there is not an alternative route that residents and first responders can take to get around those crossings.
“When I have emergency dispatchers contacting me to make me aware of rural crossings being blocked for hours — hours at a time — it’s easy to see how this issue quickly becomes a public safety issue,” Bruns said.
Amanda Snide, speaking on behalf of the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighters Association and the Nebraska Fire Chiefs Association, also supported the bill. Snide, who also is a rail conductor and member of the Hershey volunteer fire department, said railroads currently aren’t held accountable for blocked crossings.
First responders in her area encounter the problem so often, Snide said, that a space has been added to their transport form to indicate if they were delayed by a train.
James Michael Bowers, member of the Lincoln City Council and the Railroad Transportation Safety District, also testified in favor. Speaking on his own behalf, Bowers said local elected officials often are the first point of contact for people who have issues with blocked crossings. LB234 would provide neutral, data-driven information to help policymakers gain a better understanding of why blocked crossings are happening and how to address the problem, he said.
Jeff Davis testified against the bill on behalf of BNSF Railway. Blocked crossings are a problem for everyone, he said, but often the situation requires more than an operational change on the part of railroad companies. As such, simply compiling data won’t necessarily solve the problem, he said.
“In many cases, blocked crossings are an infrastructure problem that requires an infrastructure solution,” Davis said.
The committee took no immediate action on the bill.
