"It's an imperfect storm," Veronica Gorczynski of the East End District and Gulf Coast Rail District said. "Trains are longer and people are more impatient."
Houstonians have been telling ABC13 for years that they are fed up with the dangerous decisions their community members face at railroad crossings.
"Every day I see it, see the actual crawling under and going over when the train stops here for ten minutes, sometimes every 30 minutes," Northeast Houston resident Rico Paul said.
Those actions have caused injury and death. Stalled trains delay first responders.
"It's always been a problem, since the 80s, the 90s," a resident told ABC13.
Gorczynski was in attendance on Wednesday as representatives from various agencies gathered for a two-day workshop on road and rail safety.
It's being held at TxDOT's offices near Memorial Park and features discussions, as well as speakers like Houston Mayor John Whitmire.
"It gets really complicated, but this is a chance for us to grow," said Gorczynski. "How do we create a new set of rules and infrastructure to support that growth?"
Gorcynski said it's not going to be a simple fix - adding that long-term answers are still undetermined.
She said that changes, such as additional pedestrian bridges and signage, could be implemented at rail crossings in the area in the coming years.
New funding aims to address some of the issues caused by long and slow-moving trains at intersections. Senator Carol Alvarado was among several lawmakers who helped secure $250 million during the most recent legislative session. The money will be available through a grant process, distributed by TxDOT and accessible to communities across the state.
The money is available starting September 1, and while the number, $250 million, sounds huge, Alvarado admits there won't be enough to fix every problem.
"Grade separations that are underpasses, overpasses, those cost a lot of money, those can be millions and millions of dollars," Alvarado said.
That's why she said it's important that the money approved this round is used.
"I want cities and counties to use it, so that next session we can go back and say it was so successful we ran out of money and we need to put more money into that program," Alvarado said.
Alvarado said she hopes Harris County takes advantage of the grant, but said with more than 9,000 rail crossings across Texas, railroad companies also need to step up to help fix the train problem.
"Just because we're getting this money, does it mean they're off the hook. I have pressed upon them, they need to do their job, and they need to keep the trains moving," Alvarado said.
The East End District states that Harris County is among the top five counties in the nation in terms of accidents involving trains and automobiles.
There are also regular occurrences of fatal accidents involving trains and pedestrians in this area.
A man in a wheelchair was killed in the Fifth Ward last September when he attempted to get around a stopped train on St. Elmo.
"We got what we've been fearing for the longest," said resident Sandra Edwards at the time. "When does it stop? When we have some dead children trying to get to school?"
Unfortunately, that happened outside of Milby High School near the East End just a few months later, when 15-year-old Sergio Rodriguez was hit and killed by a train while walking to school there in December.
There has been talk of building a pedestrian bridge outside of the school in light of the fatality.