TEMPLE, Texas — An East Temple neighborhood where locals said they were blocked by trains for years is finally seeing some changes.
After KCEN Channel 6 learned that this small neighborhood had been blocked in by Union Pacific Trains, investigative reporter Andrew Moore made sure every Union Pacific public affairs director in the Texas region knew about the issue.
While the company would only tell Channel 6 it was working to understand the issue, there has suddenly been no problem for the neighborhood over the last six days.
Typically, the trains would stop on the tracks on East Munroe Street, which was the only road in and out of the neighborhood.
"You're taking hours away from us," resident Rhonda Juarez said. "We can't get anywhere. That's not right."
Juarez called Channel 6 about the issue last week. On Sunday, Moore sent a detailed description of the problem to all the company's regional public affairs offices, plus one in Nebraska that receives complaints.
On Sunday, Union Pacific said there was no reported issued. Monday, the company said it was looking into it.
Moore was ready to get the trains on camera all week, but a funny thing happened.
"It's been a nice week," Juarez said. "No more trains blocking us. Not once."
The trains stopped stopping, for now. They do still show up, of course.
"It's the same amount of trains going," Juarez said. "They are still busy."
Juarez said the community has been uninterrupted for six days straight. Residents said they're thrilled to not be blocked in. Juarez said she's also a little annoyed, since she called Union Pacific for a year.
According to Union Pacific's own policy, the company is not supposed to block a street for more than 10 minutes, unless they're forced too.
Juarez said she hopes the change is permanent.
"If they're blocking the track again, I'm just going to call y'all," she said.
Juarez said her complaints have stopped the trains for a few days before, so it may still be too early to tell if this issue is fixed.
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