Dade City drivers were stuck Tuesday morning, after a CSX freight train stopped on the tracks for nearly two hours.

This is the second such incident this summer. On July 11th, another CSX freight train was held up for five hours. 

Police Chief Ray Velboom says federal regulations regarding shift length are to blame. Members of the train's crew can only work up to 12 hours straight and when time is up, they must stop and wait for another crew to relieve them.

City officials are calling it a public safety issue and already, City Manager William Poe sent a letter to CSX outlining those concerns.

"These careless actions severely limited the capabilities of even basic emergency services response and could have been catastrophic to our citizens," Poe said.

Since then, Chief Velboom said he has met with members of CSX twice.

"I said just give us some notice," Velboom said. "Let us know it's going to happen. Because we've got to prepare resources."

In response, CSX said it is working to resolve the problem.

"We apologize for the inconvenience to area motorists caused by a train blocking multiple crossings in Dade City," said CSX spokesperson Kristin Seay.  "Train crews are subject to federal regulations limiting their hours of service.  CSX makes every effort to plan accordingly so that crews can change shifts on time and in areas that do not disrupt traffic.  Sometimes that is not possible due to network congestion or traffic delays, and shifts expire while trains are en route.  We are conducting a full analysis to determine what operational adjustments can be made going forward."