Suburban residents across the region often face delays due to train tracks leading into Chicago, the nation’s busiest rail hub. But in Dixmoor, the issue is more than just a minor inconvenience — it’s a daily frustration.
Freight trains frequently stop and park for hours at crossings, blocking traffic and disrupting daily life. Despite years of complaints from residents, little to no action has been taken to address what both locals and officials say is a serious safety hazard.
Steve Bechtel, a longtime Dixmoor resident who lives near 139th Street and Western Avenue, knows the struggle all too well. As a security guard for several businesses in the area, he’s seen the crossings blocked for hours on end.
“I’ve seen them two, three hours sometimes,” he said. “I don’t understand how they can keep getting away with this.”
Dixmoor Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts said trains stop in the village at least once a day, often sitting anywhere from 30 minutes to more than 12 hours. He said a train sat idle for more than 12 hours Jan. 14, starting about 9 a.m., when he woke up, and still obstructing the crossing well past 10:30 p.m., when he went to bed.
“I couldn’t believe it. It’s ridiculous,” Roberts said. “No one is helping us and it’s been an issue for years, but something needs to be done. We need to have an overpass put up, just something.”
William Wong, a spokesperson for the Federal Railroad Administration, said those who are delayed at a blocked crossing can call the phone number posted on the blue Emergency Notification System sign located at every grade crossing to report the issue.
“If a blocked crossing issue proves to be persistent, residents can report it to their local elected officials, who may be able to work with the railroad to reduce instances of blocked crossings,” Wong wrote to the Daily Southtown. “Otherwise, they may wish to use alternate routes when available and feasible.”
But Bechtel and others say they have used the numbers to report blocked crossings and still nothing is done.
While blocked crossings impede residents at crossings on Wood Street and Robey Avenue, Bechtel said the problem is worse along Western Avenue, where tracks intersect the road in the 139th and 145th blocks.
Over the last few years, residents say the problem has gotten worse.
Many residents, especially those living in two mobile home parks between the tracks, have turned to an online Facebook group to share concerns about being trapped between stalled trains with no way to bypass them.
For those that live between two rail crossings on Western Avenue, residents say there is no easy way to get around the trains.
Cynthia Mossuto, a longtime resident of the Smith mobile home park situated between the two Western Avenue crossings, and a candidate for Dixmoor mayor in April, said she has been trapped between two freight trains on more than one occasion.
“People around here leave early because of the trains, but if you get caught in between, there’s just nothing you can do,” she said. “The only thing you can do is sit there in your car.”
Wong also recommended that residents report blocked crossings through the Federal Railroad Administration’s blocked crossing incident reporter web portal. The data is used to help determine where the administration’s resources and efforts can be best directed to help address local blocked crossing issues, Wong said.
However, Mossuto, who has been using the portal for years, said she has never received a response. She said calling the number posted at the crossing has been the most effective way to reach out, though even that hasn’t always guaranteed a reply.
Since the the Federal Railroad Administration began tracking blocked crossings in 2019 through the web portal, 237 complaints have been made in Dixmoor, with 66% reported at crossings on Western Avenue.
Residents have reported stopped trains for up to 12 hours, with one report that claims a train was stopped for more than 24 hours.
In Dixmoor, the portal shows 18% of complaints were made because first responders were observed unable to cross the tracks. Additionally, 21% of complaints said pedestrians were climbing over, under or through train cars to get across.
The remaining 45% of complaints cited other issues such as being trapped between trains, missing work or school, traffic disruptions or detailed accounts of how frequently crossings are blocked in the town.
While blocked crossings are making it difficult for residents to reach appointments, school, work or even access their homes, Roberts said safety has always been his greatest concern.
Many of Dixmoor’s youth walk to school, he said, but because trains frequently block crossings, he’s often seen kids climb over or under the trains to get to and from school.
The danger of children climbing over stopped trains drew national attention in 2023, following a report by ProPublica and InvestigateTV, which highlighted how frequent train blockages forced parents to either keep their children home from school or make the risky decision to cross the tracks by going over the train.
Parents picking up their children from school are also often late, Roberts said. With part of Ashland Avenue under construction in Riverdale, Roberts said the only way to bypass a train blocking Western Avenue is to take the expressway, driving through Calumet Park, Riverdale and Harvey.
Wong said the Federal Railroad Administration does not respond to every complaint made through the portal. However, he said the agency will take action if they receive a “significant” number of complaints about a particular crossing within a two-week timeframe.
Still, the agency is limited on what action it can take, as there is no federal statute or regulation that sets a specific time limit on how long trains can block grade crossings, Wong said.
The most complaints on the portal were reported for CSX trains, with the remainder from the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company, the other railroad that operates on the tracks that intersect in Dixmoor.
“Each crossing is different, and blocked crossings can occur for various reasons, including mechanical issues, shifts in customer needs, meet ups with other trains, mandatory safety inspections, federally-regulated crew changes or as a result of the dynamic demands of the supply chain at ports or other modes of transportation,” a CSX spokesperson wrote to the Southtown.
The railroad administration does mandate train employees, including drivers and conductors, rest for certain periods of time after a shift. Under U.S. law, train employees cannot work longer than 12 consecutive hours without receiving at least 10 consecutive hours off.
“If you’ve lived in this area any amount of time, I think you know that you just kind of accept that there’s nothing that’s ever going to be done about it,” Bechtel said. “I think it’s going to take a tragedy for some changes to take place. And that’s just horrible to think that way.”
In 2022, Dixmoor police Chief Lionel Smith said the worst did happen, after police received a call for emergency assistance for a woman experiencing chest pains at a mobile home near the intersection of Seeley Avenue and 139th Street. Emergency medical technicians took her in an ambulance to UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial, but were rerouted seven times due to “gridlocked trains” which had stopped for about 2 1/2 hours he previously told the Southtown.
The ambulance and officer needed to detour through residential portions of Dixmoor and Harvey to reach the hospital, where the patient was pronounced dead, he said.
Smith said this was the only instance where first responders were unable to save a life due to blocked trains, and that no serious issues have arisen since.
The Posen Fire Department, which serves Dixmoor, was not able to be reached.
Over time, Smith said public safety personnel have learned how to work around stopped trains.
“It’s been happening for so long out here, it’s not just Dixmoor,” he said. “It’s a concern of all of ours, for public safety, so we have learned to adapt.”
For Bechtel, dealing with the trains has become a routine; you get frustrated when you’re stuck, then a few days pass, and you forget — until it happens again. It’s a cycle, he said, and when not enough people speak up, nothing changes.
smoilanen@chicagotribune.com
