Follow Up: Dangerous Railroad Tracks

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Story Published: Sep 2, 2008 at 5:13 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 21, 2008 at 1:35 AM MST

By Anthony Congi

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IDAHO FALLS - The railroad crossing at the corner of Anderson and Holmes cost our viewer a couple hundred dollars in car repairs.

She and thousands more drive over the intersection a few times a day and she just wants to see it fixed to prevent further damage.

"It's not about the cost of the tires or the cost that's caused to the car. Its just about getting this replaced. So nobody else has to deal with it and avoid any accidents in the future," says concerned driver Bridget Whittmill.

Workers with Union Pacific tell me their crossings are checked constantly, but they do have several across the state.

"We have people that are patrolling our tracks and our crossings on a weekly basis. But we do have about 2,000 crossings in Idaho so of course sometimes it takes us a little while to get out there and fix it but we try and do as best of a job as we can," explains U.P. spokeswoman Zoe Richmond.

Before my call, the railroad company had not been notified about this crossing. But according to them, these wear downs are inevitable to happen from time to time.

"Especially when you have crossings where you have a lot of trucks, or you have a lot of traffic that ends up wearing down that crossing. It's unfortunate but of course we always try to make it right," said Richmond.

I asked, "And how long would it take you guys to fix it, say within the next year?" "Oh it'll probably be sooner than that. We fix crossings on an as needed basis and I think this situation has alerted us that maybe we need to take a closer look," Richmond responded.

News that our viewer was thrilled to hear.

"I'm just really excited that finally something is getting done about these tracks. And they're going to be replaced," said Whitmill.

Union Pacific also asked me to give claims information to Bridget so she could possibly get the expenses of her damaged vehicle paid for by the company.
If you have a crossing you'd like the Union Pacific to look into, you can give them a call at 1-888-877-7267.

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