Navasota neighbors cut off from homes for hours, waiting on trains to move

NAVASOTA, Texas (KBTX) – Neighbors in Navasota say they’re fed up with trains blocking the only way in and out of their neighborhood for hours at a time.

Mary Thane lives near County Road 416. She and seven other neighbors have spent three to five hours waiting for a train to move so they can leave home. This has meant missing work, canceling appointments, running out of gas waiting on the gravel road and even an increase in anxiety about what they would do in an emergency.

“A while back, [my husband] got bit by a copperhead. We had to take him to the emergency room,” Mary said. “If that would have happened and I would have had to take him to the emergency room. I couldn’t have taken him to the emergency room. It is an inconvenience, it is frustrating. But it could be dangerous. It could be a dangerous situation.”

Mary’s neighbors include a woman who is in a wheelchair and requires visits from nurses three days a week. Even those nurses have gotten stuck by the train, unable to access their patient.

“She could have an emergency at any time more likely than us and they couldn’t get to her or if he needed to if he was home and he could try to get her out to go to the hospital. He couldn’t do that,” she said.

For two decades, Mary has lived on the property behind the tracks. She said since 2020, the trains stopping at the crossing have only worsened. An emergency number listed on the train tracks can be used. Mary says she tries to use the other numbers listed for assistance but they slowly have become unreachable. Mary worries that if they use the emergency number, that will also begin to go unanswered.

She has reached out to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Union Pacific and the Federal Railroad Commission. Some recent advice has been to reach out to Governor Greg Abbott. With 37 states having laws to limit the amount of time trains can block a railroad crossing, Texas does not make the list.

“I’m just me. We’re just little plain, you know, country people. How am I going to take it to the governor of the state of Texas? But I’m gonna try to figure it out by writing some letters or something,” she said.

Reporting stopped trains and other Union Pacific concerns can be done at this link.

The following response is from Union Pacific regarding the crossing concerns at CR 416 in Navasota.

“Union Pacific’s goal is to keep trains moving safely and efficiently – a stopped train isn’t good for our customers or communities. We strongly encourage anyone who experiences an issue with a blocked crossing to report it.”