Nearly two weeks after a train derailment, neighbors in the southern Dallas community of Joppa say the wreckage is long overdue to be hauled away and they want action.
A Union Pacific train derailed on July 14 at its facility off South Central Expressway near Carbondale Street, adjacent to Joppa.
Lakeisha Oatman lives nearby.
“It’s an eyesore,” Oatman said.
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Oatman on Sunday met with Shalondria Galimore, the president of the South Central Civic League Neighborhood Association alongside Carbondale Street where overturned rail cars sat with grain and gravel nearby.
“If it was anywhere else, this wreckage would have been cleaned up long ago,” Galimore said.
Joppa is a Dallas freedman’s town founded in 1872 by freed slaves after the Civil War. Galimore says the community has faced challenges for decades living near heavy industry that was permitted by historically lenient zoning regulations from the city of Dallas.
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Oatman’s daughter, 14-year-old Alexi Felton, said she is concerned about the impression the wreckage leaves on her community.
“The fact this is just sitting out there for anyone who is driving by to see, it’s kind of embarrassing,” Felton said. “Me, my mom and my family deserve better than to be treated like this.”
Union Pacific said seven of its cars derailed with no injuries or reported releases and no hazardous materials on July 14 and that cleanup would begin later that evening.
“Here we are 10 days later and it’s still the same,” Galimore said.
Galimore says Union Pacific hasn’t provided the neighborhood with a timeline on when this debris will be removed.
Late Sunday, a spokesperson told NBC 5 that the track has been repaired but it still has damaged cars, grain and debris to remove. Union Pacific added work to remove the grain with a contractor that will start the week of August 2 with the process of removing the cars done in the following weeks, according to an emailed response.
Late Sunday, Galimore said she appreciated having a timeline she can now share with the Joppa community but still lacked clarity on why it has taken 10 days to learn the next steps from Union Pacific.
