Who gets caught at a blocked crossing
When a train stops across a road, drivers wait, some pedestrians climb through, students walk the long way around or through the train, and school buses sit in the queue. This page lays out what the federal record shows on the BNSF line from Edmond through Oklahoma City, Moore, Norman and Noble, and what research elsewhere has documented.
BNSF line, Edmond to Noble, 2005–2026 · FRA collision reports
- 97
- collisions between trains and people or vehicles at the line's 60 open public crossings
- 33
- involved someone going around or through lowered gates, about 1 in 3
- 14
- vehicles were struck while stopped on the tracks, the queue position a school bus can end up in
- 12
- pedestrians were struck (records coded as intentional are excluded throughout)
What the crash record shows
Every collision between a train and a road user is reported to the Federal Railroad Administration on Form 57. We matched 97 of them to the 60 crossings that are open today and compared them with each crossing's traffic count from the federal inventory.
Collisions per crossing, by daily traffic
Average per crossing, 2005–2026
| Vehicles per day | Crossings | Collisions | Per crossing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 2,000 | 19 | 16 | 0.8 |
| 2,000–8,000 | 21 | 27 | 1.3 |
| 8,000+ | 19 | 53 | 2.8 |
Spearman rank correlation between traffic and collisions: ρ = 0.51 across 59 crossings (permutation test, p < 0.001). Every crossing sees roughly the same 9–11 daytime trains, so traffic is what separates them.
What the road user was doing
As coded on the railroad's report, 97 collisions
| Action | Collisions |
|---|---|
| Around or through gates | 33 |
| Stopped on the tracks | 14 |
| Did not stop | 10 |
| Other or not reported | 40 |
46 of the 97 happened between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. At S 27th and S 29th in south Oklahoma City, 7 vehicles were hit while stopped on the tracks.
| Crossing | Vehicles/day | Collisions | Around or thru gates | Stopped on tracks | Pedestrians |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E Boyd StNorman · DOT 012206J | 13,600 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| S 27th StOklahoma City · DOT 012120A | 4,396 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| NW 122nd StOklahoma City · DOT 012248V | 10,184 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| NW Britton Rd / N Western AveOklahoma City · DOT 012080E | 14,516 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| W 15th StEdmond · DOT 012071F | 19,964 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| NW 89th StOklahoma City · DOT 012082T | 700 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| S 29th StOklahoma City · DOT 012121G | 10,800 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| NW 92nd StOklahoma City · DOT 012081L | 1,300 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SE Grand StOklahoma City · DOT 012122N | 6,800 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| E Lindsey StNorman · DOT 012208X | 16,000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| E Main StMoore · DOT 012188N | 6,000 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| E Duffy StNorman · DOT 012205C | 2,250 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| W Tecumseh RdNorman · DOT 012194S | 18,750 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Lexington StNorman · DOT 012197M | 950 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| W Hefner RdOklahoma City · DOT 012076P | 8,300 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| W 33rd StEdmond · DOT 012072M | 17,251 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Sources: FRA Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Incident Data (Form 57) · FRA Crossing Inventory, both pulled Oct 2, 2026. Download the matched records.
Pedestrians
- "Pedestrians may attempt to crawl between stopped railcars to avoid being delayed by a stopped train," with an "increased risk of injury or loss of life."
FRA Report to Congress on the Blocked Crossing Portal (2024) - On this line, "pedestrians feel a false sense of safety crossing the tracks, when in reality, the trains could start moving at any time." Pedestrians "must travel significant distances" to reach a controlled crossing.
ODOT, RCE grant narrative for central Oklahoma (FY24) - In 2024, about 600 blockages were reported within a mile of 71 Houston ISD campuses during school commute hours. In about 300 of them, reporters said pedestrians climbed on, over or through the train.
Houston Landing, Dec 19, 2024 - Oklahoma recorded 12 rail trespass deaths and 11 injuries in 2025 (preliminary), 17th in the nation.
Operation Lifesaver, updated Aug 31, 2026
Students who walk
- In Hammond, Indiana, reporters watched "dozens of students" climb over, squeeze between and crawl under train cars, and saw trains block routes to an elementary, a middle and a high school for four, six and seven hours.
ProPublica / InvestigateTV, Apr 26, 2023 - After press coverage and complaints, Union Pacific said it would "immediately adjust our operations to avoid running trains near Milby High" during pickup and drop-off.
Houston Landing, Dec 19, 2024 - In Norman, the E Boyd St crossing (DOT 012206J) is "of particular concern due to its heavy use by students traveling between residential areas and the University of Oklahoma campus."
ODOT, RCE grant narrative (FY24) - FRA lists "increased delays for families getting to and from schools" among the effects of blocked crossings.
FRA Report to Congress on the Blocked Crossing Portal (2024)
School buses and transit
A bus can't treat a crossing like a car does. Oklahoma law makes every bus stop between 15 and 50 feet from the tracks, look and listen, and cross without shifting gears. When a train stops across the road, the bus is already committed to the queue, usually with no room to turn around.
- Buses must stop "within fifty (50) feet of, and not closer than fifteen (15) feet to, the tracks," whether or not passengers are aboard.
47 O.S. § 11-702 (Oklahoma Statutes) - In Fox River Grove, Illinois, in 1995, a school bus waiting at a red light had its rear extending about 3 feet into the train’s path. Seven students died. NTSB faulted the short queuing space between the tracks and the signal, and the failure to identify the route hazard.
NTSB report HAR-96/02 (1996) - On the line from Edmond to Noble, 14 of 97 train collisions since 2005 hit a vehicle that was stopped on the tracks.
FRA Form 57, analysis above - In Hammond, students rode buses that wandered "the streets of an entirely different city" to get around trains and arrived half an hour late.
ProPublica / InvestigateTV, Apr 26, 2023 - Among the 52 crossings from Edmond to Norman, 13 intersect 9 public bus routes.
ODOT, RCE grant narrative (FY24) - The federal inventory lists no open Oklahoma City crossing as a school bus route, and only 261 open crossings statewide. Districts can’t plan around a risk the record doesn’t show.
FRA Crossing Inventory, queried Oct 2, 2026
What Trainwatch changes
Alerts reach school transportation and transit dispatch while there's still time to hold a bus or send it the long way around.
The magnetometer keeps reporting "train present" after the ground goes quiet, so schools can hold dismissal at the right corner instead of guessing. How it works
Blocked minutes by hour show which bell times and routes collide with trains, and FRA's crossing-elimination grants weigh safety heavily. Grants