CBS2 Demands Answers: When Will Teaneck Residents Get Relief From Idling Freight Trains?

TEANECK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- If you find idling cars to be a nuisance, imagine dealing with an idling freight train.

Residents in a neighborhood of Teaneck said they're fed up with the trains that sit and run their engines near their backyards.

As CBS2's Meg Baker explained, Palisades Avenue in Teaneck is lined with homes, schools, businesses, parkland, and what residents called a major issue; idling freight trains on the tracks.

Loraine Wilkins' home backs up to the railroad. She had lived there for 40 years, but said over the last decade she and neighbors have been dealing with more and more train traffic, about 30 per day, each with up to 100 cars.

"You see where the train is next to my house, and god forbid something happens," she said.

Some of the trains stop on one of three tracks to prevent bottle-necking further north where there is only one track.

"We don't want them idling and carrying dangerous chemicals," Gill Moore said.

Some freight trains carry crude oil, adding more fears about safety.

"Really impacts quality of life and we want to make sure idling as little as possible," Councilman Alan Sohn said.

Councilman Sohn has been lobbying state and federal officials to do something about it. He said some trains sit for more than 12 hours, releasing carcinogens into residents' backyards.

"We want to make those changes to discourage CSX from parking here in Teaneck and using Teaneck as a train yard as it has for a decade," Sohn said.

Some council members said if the trains do have to stop they should only be allowed to idle for 3 to 5 minutes. A train spotted by CBS2's cameras have been idling for 10 minutes.

The trains are controlled by the federal government, there are currently no regulations on the time trains can idle.

CSX which operates the rail network said there is increased idling due to an uptick in business.

"We attempt to minimize idling, and to hold trains in places where they will have the least impact," CSX said.

It's hoped that a $2.5-billion expansion project will relieve bottle-necking and idling in residential areas. Idling trains were expected to be the main topic at Teaneck's town council meeting on Tuesday night.