NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Change might be coming to Nashville's Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood after a train hit and killed a man early Thursday morning.

Trains stalling while passing through Wedgewood-Houston isn't new.

"We have been very concerned for years," a Wedgewood-Houston resident, Earnest Morgan, said.

Neighbors said the CSX train line running through Wedgewood-Houston is a daily problem that has led to delayed traffic, missed appointments, and even stalled weddings.

"Either they missed their flight because the train was stuck there, or they were late to work and were written up," Morgan explained.

"People get trapped behind the train, not for five minutes, not for 10 minutes, [but] for 30 minutes, sometimes for 40 minutes, for an hour," a business owner in Wedgewood Houston, Nealy Glenn, described.

With the locomotive blocking their path, pedestrians often take matters into their own hands, climbing between the stalled train cars.

However, around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 26, the Metro Nashville Police Department said officers responded to the 1400 block of Third Avenue South, where they found 44-year-old Stephen Michael Gawiak dead underneath a CSX train. The conductor reportedly saw the Nashville man lying on the train tracks about 15 feet prior to impact, so the conductor applied the brakes, but he wasn’t able to stop.

"It's a worst-case scenario when you have loss of life," Morgan said. "The rest of this, we can deal with the horns, and we can deal with all the other inconveniences, but we just don't want to lose a life in our neighborhood."

"How do we actually, from this tragedy, quickly work together so that we never have another incident like this?" District 17 Metro Councilmember Terry Vo expressed.

Vo told News 2 that it's time to rethink the pedestrian path to include a potential pedestrian bridge or overpass.

"Between the neighborhoods of Chestnut Hill and Wedgewood-Houston, it is walkable," Vo said. "We do have sidewalks, and people want to walk to local businesses, and we need to ensure that we are doing our best in making them as safe as possible."

Vo said she's been pushing for safety measures for months, including talks with Mayor Freddie O'Connell's office and the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure. She hopes to have an update by her July town hall.

"It makes me really sad that, why are we not prioritizing pedestrians?" Vo asked. "Why are we not prioritizing the safety of individuals?"

In a statement to News 2, CSX said it recently changed its operating plan and promised fewer blocked crossings in the future:

At the specific crossings you mentioned, intermodal trains were being built which – at times – resulted in blocked crossings as we interchanged with another rail line. However, two weeks ago, our operating plan changed and residents in the area should begin to see a reduction in blocked crossings.

CSX strives to be a good partner with the city and have provided public officials with direct contacts for local CSX personnel. We encourage them to call these contacts if any urgent issues arise. CSX also maintains open lines of communication to identify and determine how best to manage crossings where challenges exist, including providing 24/7 access to crossing information through our Public Safety Coordination Center (PSCC) that first responder agencies can leverage to aid in response planning. In fact, all railroads are required to post a blue Emergency Notification Sign at each crossing with a phone number that the public can call when there is a crossing issue or emergency.

We recognize that stopped trains can be frustrating and we work hard to prevent this whenever possible. Our operations team is committed to reducing occurrences that affect drivers or normal traffic flow.

No additional details have been released about Thursday morning's deadly incident involving the train.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/pedestrians-death-along-wedgewood-houston-train-route-sparks-renewed-push-for-safety-measures/