KatieDidIt Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 My husband is getting caught almost daily, upwards of 30 minutes at a time, by trains stopped across FM2978. This is the major artery to 249 and the Beltway for residents in the north. Today he sat for an hour and then came home.I wonder how kids even make it to school? Seems that they could park elsewhere, or reshedule trains to non-rush hour times.What's going on and who can you contact about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJones Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 My husband is getting caught almost daily, upwards of 30 minutes at a time, by trains stopped across FM2978. This is the major artery to 249 and the Beltway for residents in the north. Today he sat for an hour and then came home.I wonder how kids even make it to school? Seems that they could park elsewhere, or reshedule trains to non-rush hour times. What's going on and who can you contact about this? Call your congressman, and city council official, they are cracking down on this train thing. Explain the situation, I'll bet you that you get some action out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 on my way to and from work there are two tracks, one on each side of the intersection, that have NO safety arms (just flashing lights). there is an industrial area near, so they must be loading/unloading when the trains stop for more than 30 minites at a time on a similar note: http://www.click2houston.com/news/4161126/detail.html Neighbors have complained to Houston City Hall for at least four years because it's also slowing medical help when they need it...But despite the complaints, Local 2's hidden cameras found Union Pacific trains parking nearly every day, before and after school... Councilman Adrian Garcia represents the neighborhood. He said the city has pushed for years, but Union Pacific will not fix the problem. The trains continue to stop there day after day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citykid09 Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 In my town Bryan/College Station, we have train stops everywhere and it gets so bad sometimes that it backs up emergency vehicles and everything else. So now they are finally going something about it. At one of the bussiest intersections in the BCS metro where Villa Maria meets the tracks, construction has began on a tunnel for cars to travel under and bypass the trains. I passed by there the other day and the tunnel is really deep. There are quiet-a-few tracks that cross the street at that point so the tunnel is bigger than I thought it would be. This is the kind of project Houston needs now for Westhimer, where the tracks intersect the street right before Highland Village. Also, I don't care what anyone says, Lightrail running on the streets is the stupidest idea that I have ever heard of. A Subway tunnel or an over head lightrail would be much more effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 The trains have the right to do pretty much what they want since it's their property. Though I have heard of some small towns that have been known to bill railroads for every hour they keep the town cut in half.In Oshkosh, Wisconsin they got so sick of it that the city got a federal grant to pay to have the tracks re-done to minimize congestion. The problem in that case was that the tracks were old and winding so the trains had to go slow. The city paid to upgrade the tracks and now the trains don't have to slow down at all, so they whiz through at 50 miles an hour and only tie up traffic for a few minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 Proposition 1 in today's election is an amendment creating a fund to finance relocation of rail lines out of cities. Of course, the problem with it is that the fund is paid for by Texas taxpayers, not the railroads. The main purpose of the fund is to finance moving rail lines into the Texas Transportation Corridor, Gov. Perry's massive boondoggle.So, I'm not sure this "solution" isn't worse than the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiDTOWNeR Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Also, I don't care what anyone says, Lightrail running on the streets is the stupidest idea that I have ever heard of. A Subway tunnel or an over head lightrail would be much more effective.It seems to work just fine in most other cities. I wonder what the problem here is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJones Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Hey Red, did Prop.1 pass ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Hey Red, did Prop.1 pass ? Yes. I'm so happy that my limited state tax dollars will go to help the TTC (although, ironically, I got caught at the train crossing on Houston Ave. this morning, which made me 15 minutes late for court. ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJones Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Yes. I'm so happy that my limited state tax dollars will go to help the TTC (although, ironically, I got caught at the train crossing on Houston Ave. this morning, which made me 15 minutes late for court. ). I don't know that I like Gov. Perry's idea of using tax payer money to move railroads, I have a sinking feeling he may have a stake in all this. Wonder how much land he and his buddies have bought up around the outlying areas that the proposed rail lines will go ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarthaG Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Amost 10 yrs ago we were having the same thing getting out my neighborhood... we were spending 30min to an hour daily waiting on a parked train to move. A lady I worked with (stuck at same place each morning) and I did some internet research and phone calling to find out who the complaints needed to be directed to... in this case it was Burlington Northern.We made some fliers with the phone number where to file a complaint and passed them out a few mornings. Yes, people (and my kids) thought I had gone crazy. However in about 2 weeks or less we stopped having the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 What I didn't like is that Prop 1 says the SOURCE and AMOUNT of funding will be determined by the State Legislature. Key words: "WILL BE". It sounded to me like they don't yet know where the money's coming from...I can take a wild guess, maybe they'll reduce the TCEQ's inspection budget, maybe some more reductions in child health care... I was also "extremely happy" [/sarcasm] to see that another Proposition passed, allowing the governor's "economic development" fund to be considered a non-debt item. Therefore Perry gets to keep his mega-million dollar "mad money" to throw to whoever he likes best. Funny, out of the 9 Propositions, my vote only agreed with the rest of the state on 2 issues. As usual, I disagree with the general public. I was real happy to see the general public decide the fate of land titles in West Texas...much better the general public of Texas than some surveyors and attorneys that actually understand the business, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiDTOWNeR Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 I waited 12 mins today for the train to cross San Felipe at Sulfok(near Target) starting at 4:38 pm.The tracks crossing major surface streets allover inside the loop shows how "on the cheap" the Houston infrastucture has been built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 I waited 12 mins today for the train to cross San Felipe at Sulfok(near Target) starting at 4:38 pm.The tracks crossing major surface streets allover inside the loop shows how "on the cheap" the Houston infrastucture has been built. If I was voting, I would say this is the dumbest post I've read all day. You might like to see the City of Houston Seal. Houston is home to the largest petrochemical complex in the country and 2nd largest port. Trains transport the lion's share of that product. While the city and county are looking to reroute many of these rail lines to enhance both rail and vehicular traffic, your 12 minute wait at 4:30 in the afternoon seems like an awfully small price to pay for an $11 billion dollar economic impact. I waited 15 minutes at Houston Ave. without complaint, but maybe your time is more important than mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 We made some fliers with the phone number where to file a complaint and passed them out a few mornings. Yes, people (and my kids) thought I had gone crazy. However in about 2 weeks or less we stopped having the problem.Think how effective that would be now that everybody has a cell phone and can call while they're waiting.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 alright, i don't know much aboutthis subject, so i need some guidance...who would i write to request that railroad crossing arms be installed? if anyone is familiar with the intersection of griggs/mykawa and long/mykawa, you'll know what i mean. plus, tons of people sit on the tracks at the lights there...idiots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiDTOWNeR Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 If I was voting, I would say this is the dumbest post I've read all day.You might like to see the City of Houston Seal. Houston is home to the largest petrochemical complex in the country and 2nd largest port. Trains transport the lion's share of that product. While the city and county are looking to reroute many of these rail lines to enhance both rail and vehicular traffic, your 12 minute wait at 4:30 in the afternoon seems like an awfully small price to pay for an $11 billion dollar economic impact. I waited 15 minutes at Houston Ave. without complaint, but maybe your time is more important than mine. Dumb, only becuase it is critical of Houston. If Trains are so important, you would think that the city would have been better about routing tracks under or over major roads througout the town. If not for the citizens, to have a quicker more efficient infrastructure for the trains and their respective industries. The more surface streets the trains need to cross just adds time to their business...which is also money to them, let alone the increased risk of accidents. It all boils down to quality of life. I mentioned that I was on San Felipe. That same train inched across Westheimer and Richmond, 2 other major surface streets. I would be very unhappy if a red light took 12 mins to cycle. Most folks would avoid that intersection altogether if that was the case. I have friends that live in neighborhoods where the trains block access to their homes when they just sit there for god knows how long. In mentioning that I waited 12 mins, I was trying to be factual without exagerating. I have also waited on Houston st for the train to get by. If this sort of thing did not happen on a regular basis...no problem. But the fact that this is the everyday norm is just another example of poor planning. Its not the end of the world, but in the spirit of this thread I was commenting on my frustration with the situation. It is interesting to me that my post is so dumb, yet the folks who mentioned their waits of up to 45 mins in neighborhoods did not merit a response in regards to the economic impact of trains in this town. Glad you noticed my post enough to say how dumb it was. I am not offended, but perhaps my post did offend you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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