by Ezabelle Janssen, Senior Staff Writer
PASS CHRISTIAN (GG) — The railroad has long been integral to daily life in Pass Christian, connecting communities and supporting commerce, though it sometimes disrupts traffic. After years of planning, the city is now upgrading its railroad crossings to enhance safety and help prevent future accidents.
Crews are installing new crossing gates, warning lights, and signal equipment at railroad crossings across Pass Christian as part of an approximately $4 million safety initiative funded through a Mississippi Department of Transportation grant and a federal railway-highway safety program. CSX is carrying out the project, meaning the improvements are not a city-led construction project, though city officials have worked alongside state agencies and engineers throughout the process.
Once complete, every public railroad crossing in Pass Christian will be equipped with crossing gates, replacing or upgrading existing warning systems so that each crossing will have both flashing signals and crossing arms.
Pass Christian Fire Chief Dia’mond Woodman said the upgrades have been years in the making and will have a meaningful impact on public safety. “Having crossing arms at every crossing in the city will be super beneficial to us and, hopefully, reduce accidents because it’ll make it a lot harder for a vehicle to go around those arms.”
According to Woodman, many of the city’s previous train-versus-vehicle crashes did not occur because warning systems failed.
“Unfortunately, in most incidents where we’ve had train versus vehicle collisions, the lights have been working and noticeable; people just chose to go around them,” he said. “Hopefully, this will prevent that and definitely reduce the number of train versus car accidents we see in town.”
Pass Christian Police Chief Daren Freeman echoed those sentiments. “As far as a public safety concern or issue, we are very excited and happy that they are installing the crossing arms at our railroad crossings in Pass Christian… It will make it safer for everyone who travels on our roads.”
The project extends beyond new gates. A second phase, funded through the Mississippi Department of Transportation, will focus on improving the roadway approaches at several railroad crossings throughout the city.
David Seyfarth, senior project manager with Neel-Schaffer, explained that MDOT contracted the engineering firm to study several crossings and determine the safest improvements for each location. “We’ve surveyed those crossings, we’ve done some preliminary modeling, and we’re still about a quarter of the way through with the study,” Seyfarth said.
The goal is to reduce the steep grades at railroad crossings that cause vehicles, particularly larger trucks, trailers, and emergency vehicles, to bottom out or become stuck on the tracks. Seyfarth said engineers are evaluating each crossing individually because each location presents different challenges, including drainage, existing right-of-way limitations, and CSX approval before any work can proceed.
He said the project is modeled after similar crossing improvements completed in Long Beach, where roadway profiles were redesigned to provide smoother approaches over the railroad tracks.
“The end result hopefully will be that most of the intersections will be improved to a point where there’s a low probability of a vehicle getting stuck on the tracks,” Seyfarth said.
Construction on the roadway approaches is anticipated to follow once the design phase is finished and any necessary property acquisitions are completed.
According to Seyfarth, the engineering study is expected to wrap up around the summer of 2027. Once complete, MDOT is expected to fund both the design and eventual construction of the roadway improvements.
While the city has coordinated with engineers, Pass Christian Mayor Kenny Torgeson emphasized that the railroad crossing project itself is being managed through MDOT and CSX.
“I can’t really take credit on that,” Torgeson said. “It’s something that the federal government and the state was doing. I think it’s going to be great that every railroad crossing in the city will have a gate.”
The improvements follow several serious railroad accidents in Pass Christian over the past decade.
In September 2025, two Long Beach residents were killed after their vehicle collided with an Amtrak train. A fatal collision involving a Jeep occurred in 2019, and another train-versus-vehicle crash at the Davis Avenue crossing left a driver injured in 2018. While each incident involved different circumstances, they underscore the dangers that exist when vehicles and trains intersect.
District 48 State Senator Mike Thompson said the upgrades are an important step forward, but believes additional improvements may still be needed.
“I think the improvements that have been made are good and necessary to protect public safety,” Thompson said. “But there are some crossings that probably still need to be addressed. I would be open to working with CSX to do whatever we can at the state level to help address those issues.”
Construction will continue in stages over the coming months as crews complete the installation of crossing infrastructure. Additional work, including roadway approach improvements and other finishing work, will follow as the broader project progresses.
For residents, the construction may cause temporary traffic changes and delays; however, the upgrades will create safer crossings, fewer accidents, and greater peace of mind for drivers as they approach the tracks.
Photos by Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via Associated Press
