If you’ve had to wait minutes or hours to cross the tracks, lawmakers in Arizona are working to provide relief.

A law approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Friday limits the length of trains passing through the state to 8,500 feet.

1.6 miles may seem like a long time, but Scott Jones, a licensed Arizona locomotive engineer, says the two major railroads that serve Arizona run trains much longer than that. I told lawmakers that

What’s wrong with that, he said, when it has to stop to do the switching operation. And he said the train could be left on the main line extending from the premises, blocking traffic on both sides.

Scott cited a photo of a 16,800-foot train. Half of that is delivering new cars and trucks to El He Mirage’s ride-hailing facility. “And they’re blocking the intersection all the way down Grand Avenue,” he says, stretching from Bell Road to 99th Street in Sun City. cross-track access to the school and fire station remained blocked for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Scott said there are other situations at the train depot near Chase Field in downtown Phoenix where people trying to get to the ballpark from the south on a road with a railroad crossing are blocked.

But Rep. Consuelo Hernandez (D-Tucson), whose constituency extends into rural Santa Cruz County, said it wasn’t strictly a city issue. She said roads in her part of the state have been blocked for more than her hour.

“If you can’t cross a train because it’s crossing, that means you can’t go to work, you can’t go to school,” Hernandez said. First responders cannot reach the location on time. ”

She also read a letter of support from Rep. Tim Dunn (R-Yuma) citing an incident that blocked Fortuna Road for up to two hours. “This road is the primary arterial access point to the north from Interstate 8 to U.S. Route 95,” Dunn wrote. First responders for the Rural Metro, a mile-long train, must be dispatched from the city of Yuma, resulting in a 12-minute delay in situations where seconds count.”

Dunn conceded that longer trains could be more economical for businesses to operate.

The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure, which describes itself as an independent nonprofit think tank, produced a report that a 10,000- to 12,000-foot train moving freight between Illinois and New Jersey would cost about $60,000. The same cargo, he said, would cost $74,000 to split into two 5,000-foot trains.

However, Dan writes that he is not convinced that long trains are a good idea in Arizona.

“Two-mile-long trains may be economical in the future, but they don’t work with Arizona’s current infrastructure,” Hernandez read Dunn’s letter.

Hernandez says his colleagues have other considerations besides traffic.

She cited a train derailment earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling freight cars filled with various toxic chemicals, creating a dangerous situation.

Some of the chemicals contained carcinogenic vinyl chloride, and five vehicles were intentionally incinerated to avoid explosions. In addition, some residents continue to complain of rashes and respiratory problems even while temporary evacuations are in place.

Federal investigators say the incident appears to have been caused by a mechanical problem with the rail car’s axle.

However, according to CBS News, employees who worked on the train believed the train’s excessive length and weight (151 cars, 9,300 feet, 18,000 tons) were factors in the earlier breakdown and eventual derailment. There is

“I don’t want that to happen in Arizona,” Hernandez said.

A more frequent problem, however, concerns traffic.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are no federal laws or regulations regarding road closures. Also, there are no state laws.

Scott told lawmakers that what exists is an Arizona Business Commission rule that prohibits blocking public flyovers for more than 10 minutes unless the railroad is moving continuously in one direction. But he told lawmakers it wouldn’t help anything. “They basically record complaints,” Scott said.

He is also a lobbyist for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Aviation, Rail and Transport Workers, the country’s largest rail union, so he may not be completely neutral on the issue. And Scott complained that what he said was a history of railroad companies trying to save money by extending trains, cutting staff, and so on.

Despite House Bill 2531 being introduced, made available online almost a month ago, and having been on the committee’s agenda for days, none of the railroad companies operating in Arizona , there was no one present at this meeting to testify.

By a 10-0 vote, only Rep. Neil Carter (R-Sun Tan Valley) abstained, sending the bill to the House plenary session.