Federal Government responds to concerns, opening an investigation into a fatality at a train crossing in Brompton last week

The residents of two Brompton neighborhoods are banding together in the wake of a fatality at a railroad crossing last week. They’ve started a petition that targets a number of government agencies and railroad companies in the hope that one woman’s death will lead to conversation, and hopefully, a solution.

“This is not to come and complain about who’s at fault,” Sherri Wray said to a crowd of about 50 gathered at the crossing on Oct. 12. “It can’t be changed, but we can change what happens from this point forward. And we can ask for help.”

Unified, these residents are requesting assistance in creating a new access point or alternate route into the neighborhoods while trains are occupying the track in front of their neighborhoods. And as investigations by Norfolk Southern, Amtrak and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) continue into the fatality, the Federal Government announced this week it would begin its own inquiry at the site.

“The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced it has launched an investigation into the October 7, 2015, grade crossing accident in Pell City, Ala., that resulted in the death of a motorist,” said an FRA spokesperson said Wednesday, Oct. 14.

The Incident

Neighbors say 30-year-old Andeldez Guadalupe Dasquez-Lugo picked her children up from the bus stop at the intersection of Trails End Road and U.S. 78 every day. They allege her routine was in tact on Oct. 7, the day her Ford F-150 was struck.

A photo posted at 3:54 p.m. on Oct. 7 to the Facebook page “We need an alternative route when trains are blocking in the Brompton area” shows the train’s final car was about 20 feet from the Trails End crossing. The crossing arms were down, triggered by the stopped train.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) reports that Dasquez-Lugo passed between the downed guardrails and crossed the grade at 3:55 p.m. as an Amtrak train approached the intersection.

“She was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no reported injuries on the Amtrak train.”

Driving between lowered guardrails at a track crossing is illegal. It’s much the same as running a red traffic signal, said Moody Chief of Police Thomas Hunt.

“The conclusion is, if she had followed the law — if she had waited 10 minutes — this could have been avoided,” Hunt said.

But Dasquez-Lugo’s neighbors have a response to that. They said they are at a point where they feel justified in breaking the law.

The Alleged Problem

The “siding” at Brompton affects two residential areas. This secondary track allows freight trains moving along the line to pull over so higher-priority trains can pass. Along this route, top priority often belongs to Amtrak’s Crescent line, which runs between New Orleans and New York.

According to statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration, the line, owned by Norfolk Southern, sees an average of 27 freight trains come through in a 24-hour period. Those trains can be approximately 2 miles in length. When they need to get out of the way of the Amtrak or another freight train moving the opposite direction, the freight trains use the siding.

“We have to set up these ‘train meets’ to give plenty of time for one train to enter a siding before the other train arrives,” said Norfolk Southern Public Relations Director Susan Terpay in an email. “We try not to block residents’ access to crossings. In this case, the gate was down, indicating traffic should not proceed across the tracks.”

The use of the Brompton siding can sometimes separate approximately 300 residents from access to main roads. Neither the Trails End nor Dragline Road areas have alternate routes they can take to get around the siding when it is occupied by a train. Residents said the trains stop for periods up to hours in length, but this practice is common and isn’t illegal according to the FRA. In other words, Norfolk Southern’s freight trains are supposed to stop there.

“The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) does not regulate the length of time a train may block a grade crossing,” an FRA fact sheet reads.

Standing in front of the crowd, Wray asked for hands to be raised if residents had been disciplined at work for being late or had missed doctor appointments. Nearly every hand went up.

A woman, Aline Spurgeon, said her home burned to the ground while a train blocked the crossing. Another provided photos of an ambulance waiting to cross, unable due to the train. These reports have not been confirmed.

“I’m not afraid to say it,” said Cami Smith, a resident of the Oak Valley community off Dragline Road, one of the two intersections blocked by the siding. “I’ve jumped between the cars before. I’ve broken the law.”

But Smith wasn’t alone. Every resident asked provided similar testimony. They all admit to illegal activity, and they do it to keep their jobs or maintain treatment schedules or, like Dasquez-Lugo, pick up their children.

“I’ve lived here 38 years, and we have never set foot on the same piece of property as a group and said, ‘We have a problem. Please pay attention to us,’” Wray said. “What we can do here together is make sure no other family has to go through this ever again. We can about change, and we’re going to do that through this petition.”

For more, find the “We need an alternative route when trains are blocking in the Brompton area” page on Facebook.