“I worry about stuff flying off trucks” - Yorkville alderman says rough downtown rail tracks are a danger

With residents raising concerns about the rough condition of Yorkville’s downtown railroad tracks causing safety concerns and potentially damaging their vehicles, an alderman is asking the city to take action.

“It’s getting really rough again now, I noticed it and there have been people asking me,” alderman Ken Koch said during the June 17 public works meeting. “I worry about stuff flying off trucks when they hit those.”

The problem is the city can only do so much. The tracks belong to Illinois RailNet and any scheduling decisions with repairing the downtown tracks, which they tend to do every couple years, is up to them.

Any property and infrastructure 50 feet and less to the center of the track belongs to Illinois RailNet.

Koch said he is just asking the city to start the process of initiating the conversation.

Vehicles have been slowing down in the downtown area at the point where they have to cross the tracks to avoid damaging their vehicles or having things they are carrying fly off, according to the public works committee.

When repairs have occurred in the past, Illinois RailNet has completely shut down the tracks to work on the problem area.

“If they were going to do something like that, you’d want to do it before school started again,” Koch said. “The buses all stop there.”

During the meeting, it was suggested to involve some of the engineers conducting the railroad quiet zone study to help speed up the process with Illinois RailNet.

Last August, the city council approved a study to create quiet zones for the Illinois RailNet lines running through the downtown area and along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line on the northern side of town.

Making the downtown tracks quieter involves installing plastic delineator strips and reducing pedestrian track crossings, redirecting foot traffic.

Trains would still be able to blow their horns for safety reasons.