Wildwood Commissioner Joe Elliott said he will meet with CSX railroad officials on Thursday morning about resolving an issue with CSX trains blocking city streets for up to an hour or more while the train crews take coffee or breakfast breaks.
The trains typically block several intersections west of U.S. 301 in the city’s downtown area.
Elliott said two state legislative proposals call for stiff penalties for trains blocking intersections. But CSX lobbyists have said they would rather deal with local governments.
“I’ve received numerous calls about the problem,” he said, including a call from a Baldwin city official about a similar issue there.
City Manager Jason McHugh said he has tried repeatedly to complain to CSX about it, but the railroad has been unresponsive. At the last commission meeting, he enlisted Elliott’s help, hoping that railroad officials would be less willing to ignore an elected official. Elliott is active in Republican politics and is a former Community Development District 8 supervisor.
Besides the inconvenience to residents, blocking intersections is a public safety issue because ambulances and other emergency vehicles must take detours to respond to the area.
CSX Corporation, based in Jacksonville, operates 21,000 miles of track in 23 states and two Canadian provinces. It operates an average of 1,300 trains daily with a fleet of more than 4,000 locomotives and about 70,000 freight cars.
At Monday’s meeting, commissioners also voted to pay a $10,431 invoice from CSX for maintenance, paving and cleaning a railroad crossing at Huey Street.
“They don’t have to maintain it if it’s blocked all the time,” quipped Mayor Ed Wolf.
