Train Trapped: Train troubles in Garden City leaves residents begging for help

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - On Friday, August 22, residents of Priscilla D. Thomas Way were left trapped inside of their neighborhood after a CXS train came to a standstill on the tracts for over three hours.

Residents are now calling on the company, the county and the state to help resolve the issues.

Neighbors say kids are missing school, parents are late to work, and that some even missing doctors appointments due to the train.

Bobby Robinson and other neighbors on Priscilla D. Thomas Way say they are tired of fighting with trains just to simply access their homes.

“It’s very frustrating because you can’t go nowhere,” said Robinson." You can do nothing. You can’t help somebody if they need help, your hands are tied."

Robinson even said that his granddaughter has missed school due to trains stopping.

“You don’t know when you’re gonna get caught by a train,” Robinson’s granddaughter Azaria said. “My teachers are always like, you’re late, you’re late. I live behind the train tracks, I can’t.”

Garden City City Council woman Natalyn Morris also lives in the Priscilla D. Thomas Way neighborhood and says she has been fighting these train stops since 2018.

“We need solutions, we don’t need excuses” said Morris.

Morris says that she has looked at her call logs and found that she had called CXS’s hotline for stopped trained 8 times in the last 8 months.

“And those are just the ones that I experienced,” she said, “there are plenty of others that people have made calls on.”

After the most recent incident on Friday those who call the small neighborhood home are calling on CSX— the company in charge of the train— to be more proactive.

Chris Fraizer has lived in the neighborhood for 7 years and says aside from missing doctors appointments, his aid has often struggled to get through.

“The train will be sitting on this track about two or three hours,” said Fraizer. “We missed doctor’s appointments. It’s just terrible. We still have got to live and leave out this way incase of an emergency”

We reached to CXS who told us:

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to residents when one of our trains blocked Priscilla D Thomas Way on August 22. Our goal is to keep freight moving and our operations team is committed to ensuring a blockage of this length does not happen again.”

Garden City leaders say they are trying to work with CXS to find a resolution for Fraizer and others in the neighborhood.

For now they say residents should report and document any train blockings.