Portage County, Wisconsin judge dismissed 29 citations for blocking crossings because he has ruled that local authorities cannot regulate it.
STEVENS POINT, WI
The Portage County Sheriff's Department will no longer issue citations for trains that block road crossings for extended periods of time because a judge has ruled local authorities cannot regulate it.
Portage County Judge John Finn on June 25 dismissed 29 citations deputies wrote over the past two years to Canadian National Railroad, which successfully claimed federal law prevents local governments from interfering with interstate railroad movement.
The decision frustrates Portage County Chief Deputy Dan Kontos, who believes trains now can block any road for any period of time they choose without repercussions.
"We are basically back to square one," Kontos said. "We do not have a tool to prevent the railroad from blocking the crossings."
A similar ruling was made Wednesday by a Wood County Judge Todd Wolf, who dismissed 32 citations written by deputies for Canadian National trains accused of blocking intersections in Auburndale.
Numbers tell the tale of Kontos's frustration. The Sheriff's Office took 205 complaints and issued 25 citations for trains blocking roads in 2014 and, as of July 7, had received 154 complaints and issued 35 citations in 2015. The fine for each citation was $181.60, Kontos said.
"I know there were citations that the railroad paid because it was more of an inconvenience to fight them," he said.
But at some point, Canadian National decided to fight, and won. Other citations still pending will not be prosecuted as a result of the judge's ruling, Kontos said.
Patrick Waldron, a spokesman for Canadian National, said in a written statement that the railroad "remains sensitive to the concerns of the communities through which we operate and we continue to work to minimize the number of blocked crossings throughout Wisconsin."
The Sheriff's Office will continue to record complaints about trains blocking crossings, but will not dispatch a deputy or take any enforcement action, according to a news release.
"It's frustrating for the folks who live out there (in rural Portage County)," Kontos said. "It hurts the businesses that are affected. It inconveniences motorists and it certainly has interfered with emergency responders."
One of the residents of rural Portage County frustrated by trains blocking roads is Jim Vitort, 67, who owns a farm about a mile west of Junction City. He built a trail a mile long, through his own pasture, to get around a stopped train in case of an emergency.
"They told us if we had an emergency, they would move the train right away," Vitort said.
There have been emergencies, though, Vitort said, and the trains have either been slow to move, or haven't moved at all. It took more than three hours for a train to move when a tractor started on fire at his farm, Vitort said.
Kontos, too, said he was frustrated by the impact halted trains can have on responders in emergency situations.
"In law enforcement, we're in the business of solving problems," he said. "This is one problem we can't solve."