Five years ago, the average Union Pacific freight train was 8,000-feet long. Today, it’s more than 9,000 — with many extending as long as 15,000-feet.
Nicknamed ‘monster trains,’ these freight haulers can carry in a single trip what would take two or three shorter trains to move—saving railroad companies millions of dollars. Union Pacific told the CBS News Texas I-Team the addition of rail cars to an already scheduled train is both safe and good for the environment.
But longer trains also mean longer waits at crossings. And when a monster train stops, it often becomes more than an inconvenience.
Monster trains in texas
The CBS News Texas I-Team found nowhere is the problem bigger than in Texas. Data from the Federal Railroad Administration shows more than 7,000 reports of trains blocking crossings across Texas in the past year — that’s more than three times as many as any other state…