Trapped by traffic: Rockview resident worries about more trains

ROCKVIEW, Mo. -- The tiny town of Rockview near Chaffee, Mo., has long been in an intimate embrace with the railroad.

The unincorporated village sits right at the intersection of two tracks -- a north-south track owned by Burlington-Northern Santa Fe and an east-west track belonging to Union Pacific.

In Rockview resident Les Glastetter's mind, that embrace is about to turn into a death grip. Union Pacific filed a petition in March with the federal government's Surface Transportation Board, the agency that oversees rail traffic, for a track exchange between Union Pacific and Burlington-Northern that would allow Union Pacific to use the north-south track, a move that would increase train traffic through Rockview.

"It will be devastating and isolating," Glastetter said. His main concern -- that the increased train traffic going through Rockview could cut off residents from the outside and destroy property values in the small community.

One main road runs through Rockview, and that road is crossed by the tracks at both ends of what Glastetter estimates is a 1,800-foot stretch. Trains, meanwhile, can reach 7,000 feet long, he said, and can block both main exits if placed along the curve that connects the two tracks.

The only alternative exits in Rockview are small secondary roads, in some places barely wide enough for two vehicles. One crosses the tracks a little further down the road, another goes to Chaffee, where roads leading to Cape Girardeau also have to go over operating tracks.

"Sometimes it's like playing ping-pong trying to get out of here," said Glastetter. "You drive back and forth, not knowing which track a train will be blocking. Just imagine how bad it will be if the traffic increases."

The plans filed by Union Pacific with the STB will allow the railroad to acquire about 23 miles of track from Rockview to Sikeston from Burlington-Northern. As part of the proposal, Union Pacific will build a connecting track at Sikeston and reconfigure tracks at Dexter and Rockview.

Union Pacific said the move will allow the company to shift 10 or 11 southbound trains from its current east-west line running from Rockview to Dexter to its new north-south line from Rockview to Sikeston.

John Bromley, a Union Pacific spokesman, said the move will decrease traffic in the Delta area and shift that traffic through Rockview. He said that if trains are stopped on a crossing, it's a judgment call whether to uncouple cars so the crossing isn't blocked.

A review is currently underway by the STB, a process that will likely take until the end of the year, to study the impact on people and commerce in the area.

In response to the plans, Glastetter, who is in civil litigation with Union Pacific over matters of compensation paid for some of his property purchased by the railroad and the railroad's maintenance of its right of way, is waging a campaign of grassroots political action, trying to put the pressure on the STB not to allow the track exchange.

County opposed, too

The Rockview resident said he has put hours into contacting government officials and members of the STB, and has managed to persuade others to join his cause, including the Scott County Commission and the city manager of Sikeston, Doug Friend.

County commissioners are unequivocally opposed to the project, all citing safety concerns in terms of increased traffic at crossings and the implications for emergency personnel.

"Someone is going to get killed," said Presiding Commissioner Martin Priggel. "Our warnings and gates and lights not set up for a lot of fast-moving trains down here."

Priggel said 11 county roads cross the train tracks running through Scott County, none of them with appropriate warning systems like arms and flashers.

For Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn, who serves the county's southern district, including the Sikeston area, the biggest reason to oppose the change has to do with emergency personnel. Ziegenhorn cites an incident in June where an officer was injured after a melee on Ruth Street and backup couldn't reach his location due to a train blocking the tracks.

Ziegenhorn is concerned that the western part of town could be blocked off from emergency responders -- a critical problem in an area filled with homes, schools and nursing homes.

"We have a major concern in Scott County, as I do in Sikeston, of crossing the tracks with longer trains and keeping the tracks blocked at more than one intersection, for emergency reasons and safety," Ziegenhorn said.

City officials in Sikeston have written letters to federal representatives and UP expressing the same concerns about the increased traffic.

From Glastetter's perspective as a property owner in Rockview (he owns 28 acres in the community, sharing a 1,000-foot border with the railroad's right of way) the problems are as close as his back yard. Between the noise made by the slow-moving trains as they approach the intersection -- a sound that Glastetter compares to fingernails on a chalkboard -- and the potential increase in traffic, he wonders what his land will be worth if the track exchange goes through.

As part of its review process, the STB is taking public comments. Glastetter is hoping that maybe his grassroots action will inform some of the local residents and motivate them to register their opinion with the federal government.

"A lot of people just don't realize the scope of this issue," Glastetter said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182