Efforts are being made to ease the frustrating wait at some Tampa Bay train tracks.
- Traffic backups reported daily on 50th Street in Tampa
- CSX adding staff to push trains through
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A CSX engineer told Bay News 9's Chuck Henson that the company is trying to get the trains moving faster.
Each day, traffic backs up on 50th Street in Tampa as CSX trains make their way through town.
In a Traffic Inbox story last month we talked about the problem between trains and traffic.
"What I would suggest is that they simply get some awareness of what's happening at the crossing," driver John Cunningham said at the time. "When they actually clear the area, and they still don't raise the gates, that's either with disregard or unaware of what's going on."
David Lavery represents the engineers union at the state level and has been driving trains in Tampa Bay for 38 years. He saw the story and wanted to add some perspective.
"It's just a bit concerning," he said. "We block that crossing sometimes for extended periods of time, and the gates are down and we see emergency vehicles, and we're worried."
Lavery said he feels for the drivers stuck at the tracks. But in this case it's the amount of time the road is blocked where he also wants to see improvement.
"If they're going to block the crossing during the daytime, then they need to have the appropriate number of people there to help put that train away quickly," he said.
Lavery said CSX is putting on extra staff to try and help.
"We're just concerned about the scheduling of putting those people on permanently on all different shifts to help put these trains away quicker,” he said.