Trains block east-side Des Moines streets for hours, prompting accidents, outcry from nearby businesses

Trains have stopped across busy Des Moines streets for hours at a time over the past week, locking up traffic on the east side and driving away customers, local business owners say.  

In once instance last Wednesday, a train blocked Hubbell Avenue for three hours and 20 minutes, said Darrin Morrison of Fisher Body and Paint, which is located on Hubbell Avenue just west of the tracks. 

On Thursday afternoon, Hubbell was blocked for 90 minutes, he said. On Friday and Saturday trains held up traffic for two hours each day. Monday’s blockage lasted one hour and 35 minutes. 

Customers and vendors have canceled appointments because they cannot get to the body and paint shop, Morrison said. 

Next door, Leachman Lumber has experienced similar issues, company vice president Jack Leachman said. 

Business owners near other east-side railroad crossings report similar problems, he said.   

“That’s the most frustrating part, I would say,” said Ron Holt, vice president of Des Moines Feed Co., another Hubbell Avenue company. “It doesn’t matter which business it is. We can’t get freight in and we can’t get freight out, whether it’s a fender for (Fisher Body and Paint) or two-by-fours for (Leachman Lumber) or it’s product for us.”

Morrison said the waits are so long that people will abandon their vehicles in the street to walk into his business and ask to use the bathroom.

"I had a truck driver in there Friday who hung out in my office for like an hour. He was stuck; he couldn’t move,” Morrison said. 

The business owners and City Council members expressed their frustration with the trains during Monday’s council meeting. The panel said it would appeal to Union Pacific, the railroad that uses those tracks, to remedy the problem. 

Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said the railroad is looking into the delays and hopes to arrive at a solution. 

"Our goal is to keep trains moving and we try to minimize blocked crossings caused by stopped trains," she said. 

Councilwoman Connie Boesen, a longtime vendor at the Iowa State Fair, found herself caught in a 30-minute wait on Dean Avenue last week. 

“If you’re on the east side, you can get blocked,” she said. “The only place you can go is University (Avenue).” 

On Tuesday, a passing train took around 15 minutes to pass through Hubbell Avenue around noon — when most delays have occurred. Cars backed up in front of Fisher Body and Paint and Leachman Lumber, but they left the exits open for departing cars. 

Several cars still made U-turns, and one traveled east in the westbound lanes for about 50 yards to turn off Hubbell Avenue. After the train passed, it stopped just north of the street. 

Council members raised concerns about the effect traffic backups might have on public safety responses.

Leachman said he saw an ambulance get stuck in traffic when too many cars illegally used a bypass road to University Avenue that’s only supposed to be used by emergency vehicles. 

Morrison said he's seen two accidents in front of his business after drivers, frustrated from waiting so long, turned around and hit oncoming traffic. Leachman said he saw a semi-truck make a U-turn, too. 

The City Council, which has no authority over the railroad, closed several east-side roads six years ago to speed up train traffic through Des Moines. 

In 2013, the council voted to close off three roads at railroad crossings, including a section of Hull Avenue. Councilman Joe Gatto, who represents part of the east side, said the city accommodated the railroad with those changes, thinking it would prevent delays.  

“To me, that’s completely unacceptable. I’m not sure why that would ever be happening,” Gatto said. 

Morrison said the long delays could be related to Union Pacific’s reduced operations at its short line yard in Des Moines. He said the railroad has “quit” using the rail yard, sending 50 employees to work elsewhere. 

“They’re basically using the east side as their switch yard,” he said.  

Last month, Espinoza told the Register that Union Pacific had “made operational changes to move rail cars in the most efficient manner, which resulted in reduced operations” in the city. 

The rail cars that were usually sorted in Des Moines were moved to Texas and Kansas, she said. Espinoza said the railroad had “right-sized” its workforce in Des Moines, but declined to offer specifics. 

She did not respond a question Tuesday asking if the changes at the short line yard had anything to do with street blockages.  

Austin Cannon covers the city of Des Moines for the Register. Reach him at awcannon@registermedia.com or 515-284-8398. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.