Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis said told the City Council Monday night that he has fielded questions from the public and council members about railroad crossings, and trains sitting across the tracks. One instance included a train blocking South Main for at least a couple hours.
But, as it turns out, such delays are out of the city’s hands, he said.
“We do have city ordinances in place that limit the timing of that,” he said. However, in 2018, Kansas Court of Appeals said that it infringed on federal law.
“Federal law preempts state and local laws,” he said. “So we do not have authority to regulate the time that the trains sit across those intersections.”
Francis said the city contacted the railroad company dispatchers and engineers several times Monday “to hurry them along.” But, “as it stands right now, our hands are pretty much tied.”
Things will likely only improve after changes are made at the state, or more probably, the federal level, he said. In the meantime, he said they will continue to have conversations with the railroad and see if they are willing to help.
Eventhough the crossings are on a state highway, they are the property of the railroad, City Attorney Bob Suelter said. “They have the upper hand.”
“What would happen about emergency vehicles trying to get through?” Councilman Alan Moeder asked.
“They (the railroad) say they will move,” Francis said. But, as he mentioned earlier, they had contacted the railroad several times during the blockage mentioned and it didn’t seem to help.
Alternative routes around the crossing involve leaving town. These can take nearly a half an hour.
“It seems there should have been some back and forth with an explanation of why that is,” Councilwoman Jolene Biggs said. “It it seems like maybe we need to continue to pursue that with the railroad, to see what the reasoning was.”
Great Bend Co-op also lost money because its trucks couldn’t move, Biggs said.
This marks the second time in a month there has been such a long delay, Francis said. Vehicles have been backed up north on Main all the way to the Barton County Courthouse.
