- Freight train blocks Davis city, causing traffic backup and emergency vehicle delays.
Yesterday I witnessed what could easily have become a nightmare scenario for the city of Davis. It was early afternoon when a long freight train slowly made its way down the north-south tracks that slice directly through the heart of downtown. Traffic was already backing up—something residents here are all too familiar with. These trains often slow to a crawl, sometimes stopping altogether for minutes at a time, effectively cutting the city in half.
What made this particular afternoon different—and deeply unsettling—was what happened next. As the train continued to block every east-west crossing from Third Street to Eighth, three emergency vehicles suddenly appeared: a fire engine, a rescue apparatus, and an ambulance. Their sirens blared, lights flashing, as they tried to find a way across. I watched as they first approached Third Street, then Fourth, then Fifth, each time coming to the same grim realization—there was no way through.
The vehicles, with their crews ready to respond to what could have been a life-threatening emergency, sat helplessly like the rest of us. They could not go north, could not go south, and could not reach their destination until the train cleared the tracks. For several long minutes, Davis’ emergency response system was paralyzed. When the train finally moved on, the vehicles roared to life and sped away. But the moment left me with a sinking feeling: what if this time, someone’s life had depended on those lost minutes?
Imagine a fire breaking out in one of the historic core area neighborhoods on the east side of the tracks. Imagine a person in East Davis suffering a heart attack or stroke, waiting for paramedics who can’t reach them because an already slow moving freight train happens to be idling across the crossings. Every second counts in these situations. The difference between a quick response and a delayed one can determine whether a person lives or dies, whether a fire is contained or spreads to an entire block.
The reality is, the only reason such a tragedy hasn’t already occurred is sheer luck. Trains stop across our downtown corridors multiple times a day, sometimes for five or even ten minutes. With that frequency of blockage, it’s only a matter of time before Davis experiences a preventable loss—one that could expose both the city and Union Pacific Railroad to enormous liability.
This problem is not new. City officials and residents have been aware of it for decades. There are no underpasses or overpasses along the stretch of track that runs through the downtown core, meaning that when a train stops, the city is effectively bisected. Drivers are forced to idle, pedestrians are stranded on sidewalks, and, most importantly, emergency vehicles cannot reach where they need to go.
Back in 2014 and again in 2016, Davis joined with Yolo County, West Sacramento, and Woodland to explore a solution through what was called the Yolo Freight Rail Relocation Project. The idea was simple but transformative: reroute the north-south freight line around the city, freeing downtown from the constant gridlock and safety hazards caused by at-grade crossings.
At the time, local leaders expressed optimism that federal grants and regional cooperation could make such a project viable. The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded a technical assistance grant to study the feasibility and economic impacts of rail relocation. The resulting reports made a compelling case.
The studies found that moving the rail line could yield multiple benefits beyond public safety—redevelopment opportunities, economic growth, and improved flood control. The analysis projected that relocating the rail line could eliminate 22 at-grade crossings throughout Yolo County, enhance flood protection by removing the trestle north of the Sacramento Weir, and open up significant parcels of land in Davis and Woodland for redevelopment.
According to the 2016 report, the potential economic benefits were staggering. Over a 20- to 40-year horizon, the rail relocation project was projected to generate between 38,700 and 53,200 new jobs countywide and produce between $5.9 billion and $8.1 billion in annual economic output. Davis alone could see up to 2,230 new residential units and more than 2.4 million square feet of commercial space built on the reclaimed land.
At the time, Congressman John Garamendi called the project an example of how “regional collaboration and comprehensive planning” could improve both public safety and economic vitality. Congresswoman Doris Matsui described the proposal as “multi-benefit infrastructure” that would create new opportunities for jobs, housing, and sustainable redevelopment.
The potential benefits were not just economic. Relocating the rail line would mean faster emergency response times, fewer blocked intersections, and safer downtown streets. It would also support environmental goals by enabling smarter urban planning and reducing idling emissions from cars stuck waiting at the crossings.
Yet nearly a decade later, nothing has happened. The studies were completed, the findings were publicized, and the momentum faded away. The rail line still cuts through downtown, the crossings still jam up traffic, and emergency responders are still forced to gamble on timing.
The costs, estimated between $157 million and $337 million, were undoubtedly significant. But those figures must be viewed in context. The studies identified numerous ways to offset expenses through integration with regional flood control projects, particularly those connected to the Sacramento Weir and Yolo Bypass expansions. Combining the projects could reduce costs by up to $70 million, according to the report.
That’s before factoring in the long-term savings from reduced emergency response times, decreased vehicle idling, and increased property values in redeveloped downtown parcels. In the long run, failing to act may prove far more expensive—especially if tragedy strikes and litigation follows.
The issue is not one of awareness but of will. Davis has always prided itself on its progressive values and forward-looking policies, yet in this case, inertia has prevailed. The trains still run through the middle of town just as they did half a century ago, when Davis was smaller and less congested. What worked for a city of 20,000 in the 1970s doesn’t work for a city of 70,000 today.
In an era where cities across California are investing in safer, more efficient transportation systems, it’s remarkable that Davis continues to tolerate a freight line that routinely divides its downtown and endangers its residents. The city’s fire and police departments have no reliable way to navigate when crossings are blocked. During peak hours, the delays extend far beyond downtown, creating ripple effects through residential neighborhoods and onto the main arterials.
Union Pacific has a role to play as well. The company operates this line and must bear responsibility for the safety risks it creates. It’s not enough to claim compliance with existing regulations when those regulations fail to account for the real-world impacts on emergency response and public safety. If a delayed ambulance ever leads to a preventable death, both the railroad and the city will face difficult questions about why nothing was done when the warning signs were so clear.
The Yolo Freight Rail Relocation project offered a blueprint for solving one of Davis’ most persistent and dangerous problems. What’s missing now is leadership—someone willing to pick up where those earlier efforts left off and to recognize this for what it truly is: an unnecessary public safety risk waiting to become a catastrophe.
If we truly value safety, sustainability, and smart urban planning, then the conversation must begin again—urgently. The next time those sirens blare, the city’s firefighters or paramedics might not be so lucky. And if that day comes, no one will be able to say we didn’t see it coming.
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A rail expert told me that this was some kind of stunt… I look forward to hearing from them.
What happens when more vehicle traffic slows emergency vehicles? Are the drivers liable?
What kind of system is in place to quickly direct services to Covell? What about the station on Mace Boulevard?
My understanding is at this corridor was also being considered for some kind of active transportation function… Really, there should be passenger rail services, but Woodland has sprawled out to such a great extent that that makes things much less viable…
The price tag mentioned is somewhere between half and 2/3 of the cost of the I-80 widening, and the differences that the freeway project really won’t produce any economic benefits.
All that said, I’m not against pulling it out…
Also consider the absolutely irresponsible way that Union Pacific handles the level crossings: 4th Street in particular is terrible for cycling.
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It would be amazing to replace the frieght train with a bikes-and-transit only corridor and connect it to the peripheral transitway that has been proposed ( current assumptions are that such a line would come down F street and compete with automotive traffic)
That said, im skepitcal of the projected benefits. As I recall ( Mr Miller knows more about this I hope he chimes in) the previous proposal had some questionable decisions on the north end of the connection.
Woodland obviously has this same issue, but Im guessing that industrial customers in their business parks on the north east quadrant of the city are actually taking deliveries by rail (unlike davis). And quick sattelite image search shows one grain elevator south of main that still looks rail-served…
I’d agree that the inconvenience of the rail-line coming through town is un-necesary especially since we no longer have any rail-served industries, but railroads have considerable powers of eminent domain and legal protections. I’d love to move it, but as you say “leadership is needed”. I know the guy who was championining it in 2016, and he was doing so because he had a financial upside in moving it. Absent that, who is going to take this on?
Maybe its us folks who want it gone and who want a more robust transit system?
that would mean you dont get to just build over the tracks with housing… but that would be almost impossible to do anyway with how long and skinny the parcels would be.
There is a new fire station proposed at the Village Farms subdivision. This would alleviate much of the problem described here in.
That was my first thought as to the “reason” that this article is appearing, now.
Of course, there is no funding to staff another fire station, and it wouldn’t address the “separation” between a new fire station and the existing ones (e.g., when there’s more than one alarm). As Todd pointed out, it seems to me that Covell provides access between the two “halves” of the town, and that emergency crews from other nearby towns might also respond (as well as the station on Mace, which I had forgotten about).
The article is appearing now because it’s been a problem for some time and the described incident occurred yesterday.
In fairness David has been speaking out on this issue for years.
Maybe so – I don’t recall David doing so. But I do recall him speaking out regarding the ongoing/increasing cost of firefighter compensation.
Seems to me that firefighters primarily respond to incidents that are unrelated to fires, these days (such as medical emergencies). (Except for situations like Pacific Palisades, which doesn’t apply to a place like Davis.)
https://davisvanguard.org/2014/09/sunday-commentary-why-rail-relocation-makes-sense-for-davis/
“Seems to me that firefighters primarily respond to non-fire related incidents, these days.”
Of what relevance is that point? Do you argue for the sake of arguing?
Really? You’re asking me why a full-fledged fire department is not necessarily what’s needed, these days?
This has also been an issue that’s arisen in Woodland/Spring Lake.
That wasn’t a point raised in this article. The scenario yesterday was fire engine, rescue apparatus, ambulance being delayed by a train.
Sounds like those departments need to know when there’s a train blocking their intended path, BEFORE getting stuck. (Also seems to me that’s not a difficult problem to solve – unlike attempting to reroute a rail line.)
Also seems like something to consider, BEFORE expanding a city.
Then again, they didn’t really do so in regard to Spring Lake, either. (That plan has changed so many times that everyone has lost count.)
There are people who aren’t happy that the fire station is now planned for a different locale, and noted that (only) a smaller, emergency response team is needed (rather than a complete fire station).
I’ve heard the same type of issue regarding the proposed Village Farm development – that a full fire station is not needed there.
Really? Have you talked to the emergency responders? Do you have any expertise in this at all?
Do you?
Regardless, it sounds like (if they’re getting stuck in traffic), the “experts” aren’t exactly experts. Either that, or they weren’t consulted (or trusted). (Sometimes, there’s reasons to not trust self-interested entities, as well.)
I’m just telling you what others have said in regard to both Spring Lake and Village Farms. Apparently, those people have done some type of research.
But yes, I am confident (have heard it enough times) that fire departments don’t primarily respond to fires, these days. And that they primarily respond to medical emergencies.
Where are the nearest ambulance stations, or are the ambulances primarily mobile? (I don’t know the answer to that.)
They aren’t getting stuck in traffic, they are getting blocked by trains.
Same thing – that’s what I’m referring to. Train traffic.
How is it that they don’t know there’s a train coming (or in place), BEFORE they even leave the station?
Technology doesn’t exist, which would tell them that?
Doesn’t sound like the “experts” considered (or were consulted) regarding the possibility of getting stuck in “train traffic”, as the city expanded. A complete surprise to them, apparently?
“reroute the north-south freight line around the city”
Around the city’s genuine “Urban Limit Line”? The proposed Urban Limit Line that can change at the whim of the state demanding new housing? So how does Davis know what is really “around the city”?
The 2014 plan was not a close call
” I watched as they first approached Third Street, then Fourth, then Fifth, each time coming to the same grim realization—there was no way through.”
When I encounter this situation, I go north and go over the tracks on Covell.
The Yolo Rail Relocation is a real-estate scam. Masssive taxpayer dollars (never achieved) to move tracks in order to open up land for development all over the county. Garamendi is interested in order to help his friends in the Greek real estate empire that somehow gained ‘management’ control of the wildlife corridor from I-80 to I-5 west of the Causeway, which they have ‘generously’ offered for the rail corridor.
Union Pacific owns, but does not operate, this line. The line is operated by California Northern Railway.
Emergency response and railroad crossings is an issue in hundreds of towns all over the USA. Many of them have no overpass such as we have Covell, and many have many, many more than the 2-3 trains a day that Davis’ north-south line has. Sierra Northern tried to dance this whole county-wide railroad relocation on the head of a pin based on the idea that federal flood protection money would pay for the whole thing. Much more practical than the half-billion for this count-wide “plan” would be a single underpass at 5th. But there would be logistical issues, and you’d be competing for funds against much more worthy projects all over the state/country with more trains/traffic/accidents.
Since the last time this “idea” came up many years ago, Sierra Northern ended all rail freight delivery in Woodland because of the weir project in West Sac cutting the line, even though they could have tied in to the existing network for a couple of million. The line is now semi-permanently to permanently dormant while SNRR prays in silence for another scheme to emerge to get them the half-billion federal dollars they need. Meanwhile, the bridge that supposedly was the flood control issue remains in place over the Causeway! . . . and with zero trains running on it. Since the feds haven’t requested abandonment and funded it’s removal, one wonders how legit the original claim of a flood control issue was.
The railroad industry is small, and I knew people who worked on the infrastructure plans for this scheme/project. The actual costs were FAR in excess of the public estimates, as in 100’s of millions of dollars over. These estimates were given to SN railroad but never made public. Since then and since the pandemic especially, railroad construction costs have skyrocketed. The price tag for the Yolo Rail Relocation would easily top a half-billion dollars today.
This would also take decades. Moving a rail line is like moving a freeway. If there were a worthy project in our region that effects many many times the population and emergency vehicles and blocked by many more and longer trains, it would be moving the N/S line in Sacramento out of downtown. That isn’t going to happen either. There is no half-billion for the Yolo project, no priority, no flood-control/real-estate scam ready to go, no confirmed route, no land acquisition, no Union Pacific buy-in, no structures, no track. The insane idea of looping out to the Causeway and back east of Woodland? UPRR would never allow it. Therefore, a very expensive bridge over I-5 would also need to be added to the budget. But there is no budget, as there is no project, and there will not be in our lifetimes.
This Davis N/S line, with extremely rare exceptions, has 4-6 trains per day. This is really on 2-3 trains per day, as half the movements are light engines with no train cars, returning after dropping off, or going to pickup, a string of freight cars. In contrast the E-W line through town has 50+ trains per day, though about 2/3 are relatively short passenger trains. California Northern rarely runs on Sunday or between 10pm until 6am. Trains take about 3-5 minutes to pass depending on the length and speed. Light engine one minute. So that *would be* at most 12 minutes a day. However . . .
PROBLEM & REAL-WORLD IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS
CalNorthern has this annoying and dangerous procedure of stopping the evening/southbound train across the downtown crossings while they remove a safety device from the tracks. The blocking of the crossings is not necessary and ends up blocking the crossings an additional 2-4 minutes — I’ve timed it . It’s also is a terrible safety issue as pedestrians and bicyclists get impatient and go over and under the train and between cars while the train is stopped. Many years ago, California Northern used to send a guy in a Jeep Cherokee down ahead of the train to remove the safety device before the train got there so it could keep moving. The City of Davis should ask them to do so again.
Someone asked if the technology exists to tell when a train was coming. Yes, it’s called a closed-circuit camera. One could be installed at 2nd and L Streets facing east for the one or two northbound movements between 7:30am and noon, and one could be installed on the Covell Blvd over-crossing facing north for the southbound movement between 4pm and 8pm. I would be glad to train the personnel monitoring the camera on how to tell which movements would cross the four crossings in town. Also, having an advance agreement to pick up the phone and call the California Northern dispatcher could help — and have the dispatcher call emergency personnel if there is a train breakdown that blocks the crossings. What DG described of emergency personnel trying 3rd, 4th and 5th is unnecessary and insane — with a rather small investment they would know if they had to use 8th or Covell and could head straight to those alternate routes.
Bottom line – there is no Yolo Rail Reloctation project, it won’t happen in our liftetimes, and there are a couple of simple solutions that could reduce the time the crossings are blocked and give information to emergency personnel. Despite the fact I’ve brought these simple/cheap ideas up for years, one does a thing. They sure as heck aren’t going to lift a finger to gather the 1/2-billion dollars to move the railroads.
Excellent, informative comment.
Sounds like the line isn’t used much at all, which is what I suspected.
Any thoughts regarding whether or not the railroad could be enticed ($) into abandoning the line (without even replacing/moving it)?
Turn it into a bicycle path, and be done with it?
I think I looked (once) regarding where it goes beyond Woodland, but don’t know if that’s all that important (as a rail line), either.
“Sounds like the line isn’t used much at all, which is what I suspected. ”
Where do you come up with this nonsense?
“Sounds like the line isn’t used much at all, which is what I suspected.”
It used to be a main line, now it’s a shortline operated by a shortine railroad operator. It serves many industries and has a high volume of freight. It just isn’t a pass-through line nor does it have passenger trains.
“Any thoughts regarding whether or not the railroad could be enticed ($) into abandoning the line (without even replacing/moving it)?”
Not a chance in h*ll.