Trains Make El Sereno Not So Serene

The railroad has been a familiar part of El Sereno’s landscape for more than a century. But now the tracks divide this hilly neighborhood like a deep, impassable chasm.

Busy rail traffic has virtually paralyzed the community just east of downtown Los Angeles, residents say, bringing a host of disruptive and dangerous side effects.

With increasing frequency, the long trains lumber onto the tracks and idle on road crossings, residents say, cutting El Sereno in half. On one side sit the schools, businesses and police and fire stations; on the other side are the people trying to get to them.

Children running late for school scramble across the parked rail cars. Fuming motorists are stuck at crossings for interminable waits. Fire engines and police cars, their sirens blaring, reach the blocked tracks and have to wheel around, unable to cross.

The train engines send the sharp stench of diesel fuel up into the hills, seeping into homes. Long, high-pitched train whistles cut through the night, dozens of times in succession.

“It’s the first sound we hear in the morning and the last sound we hear at night,” said Jose Mosqueda, 16, who regularly is late for school because he can’t cross the tracks.

The trains are more than a nuisance, residents say. They have permeated every aspect of their lives.

“I hate them,” said Sandra Nobregas, 40, glaring at a noisy engine chugging by.

The turmoil in El Sereno mirrors disruptions in many other communities feeling the brunt of “a second rail renaissance” across the country, said Jim Gower, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration.

“Because of the increased rail traffic, you’re seeing lines that may have been abandoned or had minimal use now have daily traffic,” Gower said. “It’s thrown a curveball to a lot of communities.”

Increased train traffic has heightened the risk for residents in places such as El Sereno, where there are no overpasses or barriers to protect the public.

Tracks on both sides of the neighborhood descend into trenches, allowing traffic and pedestrians to cross overhead. But in El Sereno, a mile-long stretch of track cuts through residential streets. The trains rumble right in front of impatient drivers and pedestrians, separated only by a crossing gate.

Railroad officials say there is little they can do about the congestion’s side effects.

“Sadly, there isn’t a real good answer,” said Union Pacific spokesman Mike Furtney. “We want people to be as comfortable as they can with the railroad nearby, and I know that can be tough sometimes. But no railroad could afford to take care of the thousands of situations like these that exist on our system. It’s the responsibility of the local government.”

City officials are struggling to find money to build overpasses for cars and pedestrians. So far, a little more than $5 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city has been allocated for the bridges, which are expected to cost more than $30 million.

“This is the No. 1 public works project in our district,” said Dan Farkas, an aide to Councilman Richard Alatorre, who revived plans to build the overpasses this year.

Farkas said he hopes to get more money from state transportation funds. But even if the funding comes through, construction won’t be completed for several years, he said.

Residents say they can’t wait that long.

Jose Luis Garcia’s aging mother lives on the other side of the tracks from him. A few months ago, Garcia received an emergency call that she was ill. He jumped in his car and raced down the hill, only to find that a parked train was blocking every major intersection. By the time he reached his mother’s house, a neighbor had already taken her to the hospital.

“I felt like crying,” said Garcia, a real estate loan manager. “I felt so frustrated. I thought, ‘Maybe she’s dying. I can’t even see her or get to her.’ This just has to stop.”

Some El Sereno and City Terrace children who cross the lines to get to the four nearby schools take a chance when the trains are stopped. They grab their backpacks and their bikes and scramble between and under the cars to the other side.

“Sometimes we have to hop over them, because otherwise we’ll be late,” said Nidia Ibarra, 16, a junior at Wilson High School. “One time I was on it and it began to move. It was pretty scary.”

Union Pacific’s Furtney said the schools have a responsibility to ensure that no student feels compelled to cross the tracks.

“There’s no circumstance when anybody has any business being there, and if they are, they are putting themselves in a potentially tragic situation,” he said. “We don’t want people to get hurt on our railroad.”

Transportation safety experts warn that the railroads and the government need to cooperate to find permanent solutions to the danger in places such as El Sereno.

“Railroad crossings are becoming a major problem,” said Najm Meshkati, associate executive director of USC’s Institute of Safety and Systems Management. “The tragedy here is these are innocent people and bystanders who are killed. When the railroad says, ‘It’s not our problem,’ it’s just shoving it under the rug.”

Charles Sudduth, vice president of El Sereno’s Hillside Village Property Owners Assn., said residents “are very deeply concerned” about the problem. “We see a major disaster waiting to happen,” he said.

Sudduth and 12 other residents joined in a nuisance lawsuit against Southern Pacific in 1994, claiming the traffic was causing unreasonable noise and disruption.

The suit was dismissed in 1996 when the railroad helped residents pressure authorities to build overpasses and to study the feasibility of building a sound wall. But residents said nothing has been done since Union Pacific purchased Southern Pacific in August 1996.

“It’s an absolutely terrible situation,” said James Frieden, an attorney representing residents. “Why are there trenches for the trains on the west side of the station, but not here? It says something about economic power in this city.”

El Sereno has a long history with the railroad. The tracks were first laid down in the 1880s, and many railroad workers settled in the area, which was close to the switch yards.

In the last several years, rail traffic has risen steadily, including an 8% increase in container traffic this year. Union Pacific has also sold some of its Los Angeles lines to the MTA, pushing more Union Pacific cars onto fewer routes.

Residents said they are worried not only about public safety but also about the vitality of their neighborhood. Many merchants complain that customers and delivery trucks can’t get across the tracks and that train noise makes it impossible to conduct business. School administrators say the increased rail traffic has seriously cut attendance.

“It’s a constant, constant situation we have to deal with on a daily basis,” said Wilson High School Principal Marcella Contreras, who estimates that almost a third of her students have to cross the tracks to get to class. “Anyone who lives on the other side of the railroad has to play a guessing game with the tracks every day. It’s crippling us.”

Furtney offered to meet with residents and explain railroad policies. He also volunteered to schedule a train safety program at local schools.

He said residents can report railroad emergencies on a Union Pacific line by calling (800) 892-1283. Problems with crossing gates can be reported at (800) 767-3884.

“In cases such as El Sereno when the train traffic is cutting the town in half, the railroad should be involved in addressing the needs of the community they’re located in,” Gower said.

Until something changes, residents say they are at the whim of the giant locomotives.

“We don’t even count anymore,” Nobregas said. “The railroad dominates and controls everything. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.”

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On the Wrong Track

Increased train congestion on the railway that cuts through the El Sereno area of Los Angelesis having disruptive and dangerous effects on the neighborhood, residents say.