Trains that idle for hours in Lincoln Heights generating frustration in community

LINCOLN HEIGHTS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Residents in Lincoln Heights and El Sereno are frustrated with hourslong train stoppages blocking important intersections, prompting one councilmember to suggest taking legal action.

Trains operated by Union Pacific Railroad regularly stay idle on the tracks for hours, blocking cars and pedestrians from crossing the road, according to residents.

"I'm relaxing at home watching TV and the next thing you know you get a gush of fuel, the smoke coming into the house," Lincoln Heights resident Robert Vega said.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León held a news conference asking the city to take legal action against the company just as several stopped trains behind him blasted their horns.

"And this is an example in real time of what the community endures every single day," de León said.

Cameras set up a year ago by his office captured videos of pedestrians climbing between railcars to get across the tracks.

"At the San Pablo intersection alone, trains were stopped for as long as 670 minutes in a single instance, not cumulatively, but in a single instance," de León said.

Locomotives that stop on the Valley Boulevard railroad crossing prevent valuable access to Keck Hospital of USC across the intersection, causing problems for patients trying to get through.

Video shows one ambulance with flashing lights turning away from the intersection because it couldn't get across the tracks.

"We receive a lot of phone calls from patients and in some cases, ambulances who say they can't come to our campus because they can't get across the train tracks," said David Galaviz, a spokesman with the hospital.

"We have not received any communications from the Councilmember's office related to the concerns referenced. His office has reached out previously on unrelated inquiries, and we responded accordingly," Union Pacific said in a statement. "We would welcome an open dialogue with the appropriate city leaders to discuss any concerns with our operations."