Winfield residents upset about idling trains

Union Pacific Railroad representatives got an earful this week from Winfield officials and residents fed up with excessive noise from idling freight trains.

Railroad officials attended Thursday's village board meeting to address complaints about trains idling for long periods near Town Center.

Erik Varela, a senior director of public affairs with Union Pacific, said there are more such trains because of weather conditions and the implementation of a new operating procedure.

For example, he said, trains are being rerouted because of flooding in southern Illinois and in states to the west.

"So you have a lot of train congestion that's either coming into Illinois because it's avoiding flood areas to the west or avoiding flood areas to the south," Varela said. "And then you have trains that are in Illinois trying to get out."

As a result, there's additional idling "because we're waiting for a train to pass us in front or we're waiting for signals ahead that may indicate it's safe to move on," he said.

Varela said the problem should ease when the weather clears.

But village officials say this isn't a new problem.

"It may be exacerbated by what's happening in the last five months," Village Manager Curt Barrett said, "but this has been a problem for five or 10 years."

Resident Tim Doherty, who lives in Town Center, says Union Pacific long has used the area as a "holding station."

"This means their train engines are roaring nonstop," he said. "They never turn them off for hours upon hours. Typically, a train will sit for two, four, six or even eight hours with its engine roaring."

In addition to the noise, he said the trains are causing air pollution.

"When one train finally leaves, a few minutes later another train arrives and will sit idling for hours," Doherty said. "Sometimes, there's even two and three trains sitting side by side idling."

The problem has forced one woman in his neighborhood to sleep in her bathtub. Others have sold their homes.

Doherty said he and his neighbors regularly call Union Pacific to complain, but there has been no improvement.

"It is absolutely not right or fair that the residents living in downtown Winfield have to endure this horrific problem day after day," he said.