Garden City residents share concerns over children jumping trains

Yahoo

21-02-2025

GARDEN CITY, Ga. (WSAV) — Concern is growing among Garden City residents after a video of local kids crossing over a stopped train surfaced online, sparking a conversation about the trains' persistent presence.
The video was originally posted to Nextdoor, a social media app where people can share information about what's going on in their neighborhoods.
It showed children hopping over a train on tracks that cross Augusta Road/Highway 21 in Garden City.
'It's everybody. Not only kids, adults, everybody,' William Johnson, a longtime resident near the railroad crossing, said. 'If they park this train back here and you walk up to it and it's just sitting there, sometimes overnight, you can't afford to walk all the way around and come back. Yeah, people jump on it.'
Some consider the train issue more pressing because there is a school just up the road, many kids left with no choice but to cross the tracks to get home or get off the bus.
'Especially when the kids get out of school because the traffic is already backed up as it is,' Tamika Hayes, whose family lives in the neighborhood right next to the railroad crossing, said. 'Then, you've got people trying to come out of the neighborhood, and then the train on the tracks. It's a lot.'
Neighbors said the train is often parked at the Augusta Rd crossing during school hours.
'There's no set times. It comes, it goes, it comes,' Johnson said.
There are no train ordinances in Garden City, which means trains don't have to abide by local regulations for where they can be and when.
The Garden City Police Department said they have seen the video and will be monitoring the area.
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