Mayor Still Addresses Trains in Hope

Mayor Don Still says the city has been talking with the local railroads serving Hope concerning the trains that have sometimes blocked several busy intersections.  “We’ve been working on this for probably the past three months,” said Mayor Don Still on Tuesday (8-29).   The mayor noted “it seems like train traffic, especially on on 16th and 6th, has really picked up over the past several months.”  The reason for the upswing is due to the cars that feed the new Tyson feed mill in the western part of the county.  “The cars that feed the feed mill are being taken off the Union Pacific “main line” and put on the Kiamichi tracks.  These are then shipped to the Tyson Feed Mill,” says Mayor Still.  According to the mayor the feed mill goes through up to twenty cars of raw material per day.  This means the filled cars are coming through and then the empty cars are coming back through.

The city has been instrumental in the railroads reducing the blocking of intersections.  The railroads have been “breaking the trains”, i.e. uncoupling cars at the crossings to allow traffic through.

Mayor Still asks the public to be patient.  “I don’t like waiting on trains, either,” says Mayor Still.  He continued, “they’re taking that train out to the feed mill and I know we’re all happy with Tyson expanding in Hope and the area.”

The mayor said the city has two good contacts with both lines and asks for the patience of the public as the city works with the railroads to have as few blockages as possible.