The mayor of Hammond, Indiana, says railroad company Norfolk Southern is reneging on a promise to partly finance the construction of a pedestrian overpass at a dangerous rail crossing that was the subject of a ProPublica investigation. Without the funding, he added, the project is dead.

Hammond, a suburb of Chicago, is the busiest train hub in the nation. The area served as a parking lot for Norfolk Southern's trains as they idled between two busy intersections, blocking children from getting to and from school. Officials began pursuing the overpass in 2023, after ProPublica and InvestigateTV documented dozens of children crawling through, over and under trains at the crossing.

After publication, Norfolk Southern's CEO at the time, Alan Shaw, called Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott to discuss solutions. The mayor said Shaw committed to paying the full cost of the project, including a $2.6 million local match required for a $7.7 million federal grant the city received in June 2023. A Norfolk Southern spokesperson said the company never made any such written commitment.

What the Right Is Saying

Norfolk Southern disputes McDermott's claims that the company agreed to provide matching funds. A spokesperson noted the company did provide $450,000 and assisted officials in applying for the federal grant that made "the city's plan for a pedestrian bridge possible." The company says it never made any written commitment to fund the local match.

The spokesperson said operational changes made in 2023 to reduce the impact on schools are working. "More than two years later, these changes continue to yield results, including a nearly 50% drop in blocked crossing calls into our communications center at this location," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

The company acknowledged a recent blockage near schools but said it was "not typical for that location" and that trains normally have clear passage through the area. Norfolk Southern stressed it "never wants to inconvenience our communities" and encouraged everyone to stay off railroad tracks and never attempt to cross between rail cars.

What the Left Is Saying

Mayor Thomas McDermott, a Democrat, is accusing Norfolk Southern's current CEO Mark George of backing out of what he described as a handshake deal. "The new guy got amnesia," McDermott told ProPublica. The mayor said he's been lied to once by Norfolk Southern and has no reason to believe the company will keep trying to reduce impacts on the city.

State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, a Democrat representing the Hammond area, said she doesn't want children growing up "thinking that crawling under or over the train is a way of life." Jackson has previously introduced legislation to address blocked railroad crossings. Her fear is that without the bridge, "a child will be severely injured or killed in Hammond."

School board president Carlotta Blake-King said district employees recently saw children traversing a stopped train at a different location as they left school. "These kids are still having to do this," she said.

What the Numbers Show

Norfolk Southern reported $2.9 billion in profit in 2025, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company provided $450,000 for engineering and design work on the overpass project.

The city received a $7.7 million federal grant for the pedestrian bridge, which required a local match of $2.6 million that Mayor McDermott said Shaw agreed to cover. The project is now dead without that funding.

Norfolk Southern says blocked crossing calls at the location have dropped by nearly 50% since operational changes in 2023. A vehicle overpass is planned for the area but won't be completed until at least 2029, and it would require students to walk at least a mile out of their way.

The Bottom Line

The pedestrian overpass project that would have provided a safe route for schoolchildren to cross the railroad tracks is effectively dead after Norfolk Southern declined to provide the $2.6 million local match. The company says it never made a formal commitment to fund the project, while the mayor insists there was a verbal agreement with his former CEO.

Norfolk Southern has implemented operational changes that have reduced blocked crossings by nearly 50%, though local officials and the school board say children are still being forced to navigate trains. A vehicle overpass is slated for completion in 2029, but it won't directly address the school crossing problem.

Mayor McDermott said he fears a child will be seriously injured or killed before that project is completed. "I hope to God, and I pray it never happens," he said.