Resident says she’s fed up with thieves trespassing through her property to steal from cargo trains
By Charlie De Mar
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — A longtime South Side homeowner said she’s had it with cargo thieves trespassing through her property to steal from the train tracks near her house.
The criminals are getting so bold that her family is now worried for her safety.
“They don’t interfere with any other homes but mine,” Darlene Lewis said.
The 79-year-old should be enjoying her retirement, but instead, she worries about a group of train cargo thieves who have been trampling through her Auburn Gresham yard for years.
Lewis said organized crews have trespassed to access the train tracks that sit behind her home. In some cases, leaving boxes behind only to come back hours or days later to retrieve the stolen goods.
“When they came this last time, they were so bold they parked in my driveway and loaded stuff,” she said.
It’s become such a problem that Lewis’s son Richard said they recently installed a nearly $3,000 fence only to have it broken into weeks later.
“We thought that would be a deterrence,” Richard said. “I’m fearful, angry, scared all at the same time.”
Last fall, CBS Skywatch was overhead as thieves pulled big screen TVs off a freight train on Chicago’s West Side. Cargo theft is expensive, costing rail companies over $100 million in 2024, according to the Association of American Railroads.
“When there’s no deterrent from the prosecution side, it does nothing to keep people from coming back,” said Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads. “They are going to get bolder and bolder and bolder.”
“I see empty crates on the tracks that they might have taken merchandise and left the crates,” Richard said.
Back on the South Side, the family said the problem hasn’t improved even after contacting Chicago police, railroad operators, and 18th Ward Alderman Derrick Curtis.
“Nobody is listening at all, everybody is blaming everyone else,” Richard said. “I don’t know where the responsibility lies, but it has to lie somewhere.”
A spokesperson for Norfolk Southern wouldn’t comment on any specific investigations or incidents, but said in a statement:
“Norfolk Southern is committed to protecting customer freight and ensuring the safety of the communities we serve. While we are unable to comment on active investigations… generally speaking, in Chicago and across our network, our Norfolk Southern Police Department takes a multi-layered approach to cargo security—combining proactive policing, advanced technology, and close collaboration with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners. This includes sharing intelligence on investigations and theft trends, supporting joint task forces, and deploying surveillance tools and real-time tracking systems to detect and deter unauthorized access. Community safety and cargo security are always top of mind. It is a shared responsibility, and we remain focused on protecting communities and safeguarding high-value freight through prevention, partnership, and innovation. If you’re hearing specific details from neighbors affected by recent events, we would stress that they also share their experience and document the concerns with law enforcement.”
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