MOORHEAD, Minn. (KFGO-AM) - Results of a new study by the Moorhead Fire Department shows emergency response times are being significantly compromised by a growing number of trains.
KFGO News has obtained a copy of the 68-page report, which says downtown railroad crossings are impassable to emergency crews for up to six hours each day.
Moorhead Fire Chief Rich Duysen set up a video camera to observe trains for 48 hours at a major downtown intersection. “We need underpasses in Moorhead” Duysen said. “We could only make our response time goals in two out of ten responses. It’s pretty obvious to the recommendations of the report that we build an underpass on 21st Street and on 11th Street so that we can meet our response times.”
Duysen also says until underpasses are built, software is available that would shave the time crossing gates are down by about a half hour each day.
Duysen says trains cause about 100 blockages in Moorhead each day. Oil train numbers are expected to rise 10 percent each year until 2023; freight trains are projected to rise two percent a year until 2040.