Idle Train Blocks Northside Day Care

Sitting in rush hour traffic is bad enough, but picture yourself sitting waiting for a parked train to move out of the way.

That's been a major source of frustration for one Northside day care.

Terry Musto, who owns Sunrise Daycare and Learning Center, said parents eager to get their children dropped off at her day care will often take desperate measures when confronted by a parked train.

"I've had them call me on the phone and say, 'Mrs. Terry, will you come down and meet me, and I'm going to pass my child through the cars to you,'" Musto said. "'No, I cannot do that because you don't know when they're going to start moving.'"

Musto said the parked train is one reason why CSX is killing her business. She said the railroad crossing near Main Street and her Northside day care is often blocked by an idle train, and parents are stuck waiting and are then late for work.

"It's never just a five or 10 minute wait," Musto said. "Many times it's been an hour or more. It backs up and it goes forward. It backs up and it goes forward, but it never clears the track."

Musto said she and her parents are also worried about emergencies. They said there's already been a case of a child needing medicine, and a parked train got in the way.

"We actually had a child that had an asthma attack, and we had to have them break apart the train because the parent couldn't get across to bring us their inhaler," said Brittany Jenkins, who works at the day care.

CSX said the section of track near the Sunrise Daycare is vital for switching lines and exchanging cargo, but a CSX spokesman said an assessment of the track is under way and CSX is doing what it can to alleviate the problem.