BEVERLY — Large freight trains known to snarl traffic throughout the 19th Ward seem to moving again, according to CSX Transportation Inc.
The railroad that owns the Elsdon Rail Line — which runs parallel to Sacramento Avenue on the Southwest Side — submitted a monthly report to the Surface Transportation Board Tuesday.
Just one train stopped and blocked a crossing in the 19th Ward in December, the report said. There was also one instance of a train idling on the tracks. There were no recorded signal defaults, CSX reported to the federal regulator.
"Things are definitely better. They are not perfect, but they are better," said Gail Lobin, a spokeswoman for the company that bought the rail line on Feb. 8, 2013.
The report goes on to define the Elsdon Line as running from 47th Street in Chicago to Munster, Ind. It also states that there was one train that moved slowly throughout the neighborhood, thus blocking the crossing for 10 minutes.
Repeated incidents of trains stopped at crossings and malfunctioning signals led State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-18th) and Ald. Matt O'Shea (19th) to travel Oct. 21 to Washington, D.C.
The local lawmakers met with CSX officials and the federal agency that approved the purchase of the line, calling for improvements after repeated complaints from area residents inconvenienced by parked trains.
Neighborhood officials also joined James Sexton, the mayor of suburban Evergreen Park, in expressing concern that halted trains prevented ambulances from reaching both Little Company of Mary Hospital and Advocate Christ Medical Center.
O'Shea stopped short of declaring victory Thursday in the ongoing battle with CSX. But he did say complaints are down since he visited Washington — a trend he'd like to see continue.
"It is worth noting that national rail traffic is also down between 5-8 percent from last year," O'Shea said in a written statement.
CSX has issued reports for the past three months on rail traffic passing through the 19th Ward. In that time, a total of three trains stopped and blocked crossings on tracks, and there were no reports of signal problems, according to the reports.
When CSX bought the line, it admitted train traffic would increase but promised local officials that trains would move briskly from one end of the line to the other. Trains that did stop would be split to avoid blocking traffic for more than 10 minutes.
But trains ended up snarling traffic in the neighborhood by frequently stopping on the tracks, and only one train has ever been broken up to allow cars to get through, CSX admitted.
The railroad argued that "breaking" the trains would actually result in longer delays and more congestion. It also told regulators that competing railroads were to blame for the logjam on its tracks, and better communication was needed.
That said, trains seem to be flowing through the neighborhood more smoothly in recent months, according to O'Shea, who promised to remain vigilant and hold CSX "accountable to our community."
"I am encouraged that CSX is taking this matter seriously," he said.
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