Denison repeals obstructing railroad crossing ordinance

KXII
By Talaiya Munson
Published: Oct. 2, 2023 at 8:12 PM GMT-7

DENISON, Texas (KXII) - An ordinance in effect nearly sixty years in the City of Denison to prevent trains from blocking crossings for than five minutes was repealed at Monday night’s city council meeting because the city says they can no longer legally enforce it.

At Monday’s City Council Meeting, the ordinance that states that in the city of Denison, “it shall be unlawful for any engineer, conductor, or other person to stop or cause to be stopped, any railway engine or car across any street, alley, road or highway, so as to obstruct or interfere with the free passage thereon, for a longer time than five minutes at a time” (section 25-202) was repealed.

The city has enforced the ordinance since 1965 but says they can no longer legally enforce it. Now it’s in the hands of the federal law.

The staff report states: “Texas Transportation Code Section 471.007 previously governed the obstruction of railroad crossings and supported the City’s ordinance. Texas Transportation Code Section 471.007 was repealed by the Texas Legislature in 2015 due to preemption by the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 and the Federal Railroad Safety Act. These same federal acts preclude the City from enforcing Section 25-202 of the City Code.”

With railroad tracks near homes, schools, and traffic lights, some Denison residents expressed concern about the end of time limits.

From December 2019 to September 2021, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) highlights 25,374 total reports received, 18,801 incidents at 5,773 crossings, and 906 investigations performed of blocked crossing nation-wide. Texas was the third highest state of reported incidents.