Train Blocks Railroad Crossings For Hours, Cartersville Explores Fines

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- It's a sight all too familiar to motorists who rely on streets in downtown Cartersville to come and go as they please: a train, stopped on the tracks for hours, effectively blocking railroad crossings.

This latest occurrence, which involved a CSX train blocking at least three railroad crossings for than two hours Wednesday, proved to be the last straw for the city of Cartersville.

Mayor Matt Santini at the City Council's April 20 meeting outlined the code section the city will begin enforcing to crack down on these violations.

Code section 19-3 of the city's ordinance notes it is against the law to block any street crossing in the Cartersville city limits "with any freight cars or train for a longer time than 10 minutes with the train stopped, unless a longer time shall be necessary to enable it to perform its duties as a common carrier.”

Assistant City Attorney Keith Lovell said Cartersville code enforcement officials will launch an investigation and determine whether a fine is necessary. If a fine is deemed appropriate, the amount could be $1,000 for each railroad crossing that was blocked. In Wednesday's case, that means CSX could face a fine up to $3,000.

Despite various reports, Lovell said the Council did "not take any affirmative action to fine anyone."

“They don’t have the power to do that," he added.

CSX spokesperson Laura Phelps said the company apologizes "to the people of Cartersville, Ga. for the impact our stopped train caused in the community" when it blocked several crossings for two hours.

"Our operations team is developing a plan to try to prevent that from happening again," Phelps added, noting CSX hasn't received a formal notice from the city of any fines it could face. "We will keep an open line of communication with the community, first responders and leaders there in Cartersville.

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