Children in Hammond, Indiana are risking life and limb to get to school on time because Norfolk Southern trains block their path. The trains, which can stretch across five or six intersections at a time, prevent students and teachers from getting to school in the morning. Teachers must watch multiple classrooms while their colleagues wait at crossings; kids sit on school buses as they meander the streets of an entirely different city to be dropped off a half-hour late. One seventh grade teacher estimates that at least half her class is delayed by trains multiple times a week.
When trains block intersections, ambulances and fire trucks must take circuitous routes, greatly increasing their response time so people die or houses burn out of control. Numerous people have been disfigured, severely injured or even killed; one Iowa woman lost nearly all the skin on her back when a train dragged her, and a Pennsylvania teen lost a leg when she tried to pass between cars on her way to her Prom. It is only a matter of time before some innocent child is seriously injured or even killed while trying to walk between train cars because he or she doesn't want to be late for school.
A spokesperson for your company said children climbing through their trains concerns you, but as of yet all you have offered is talk: saying you are working to identify an area where trains can stage further down its line and to have less impact on the community and reviewing your procedures to see whether trains can give louder warnings before they start moving - according to ProPublica reporters, trains in Hammond sometimes start moving without warning. You claim that you are in "constant communication" with local officials, and that representatives will discuss any proposed fixes with Hammond.
The people of Hammond don't need empty talk and promises - they need those trains out of the way, and in a timely manner. You are in enough trouble due to the recent derailment in Ohio; you don't need a lawsuit filed by grieving parents because their sweet little daughter got squished by one of your trains.
