Two Union Pacific train conductors stood along the newly repaved sidewalk at the railroad crossing near Milby High School early Wednesday, handing rail safety flyers to students on their way to class.
In December 2024, 15-year-old Sergio Rodriguez was struck and killed on the tracks near that crossing, prompting community outcry, spurring plans for pedestrian bridges at some HISD schools and helping inspire a new $350 million grant program to fund railroad-highway grade separation projects in Texas. But for now, the crossing remains unchanged.
Just before school started for the 2025-26 year, Union Pacific quietly ended a train traffic curfew at the rail crossing near Milby, which limited train traffic in the area during peak school hours after Sergio’s death. The railroad said it needed to return to a normal train schedule to “reduce blocked crossings and congested areas in other parts of the city caused by the curfew.”…