Four kids were killed in June when a stolen SUV slammed into a train that was parked on the tracks at night.

Investigators said it’s likely the driver didn’t see the dark cars until it was too late. Houston Mayor Bill White is trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

He’s going forward with a plan to keep parked trains from blocking intersections.

School kids climbing through parked trains are just one reason Mayor White is angry.

“The railroad company was saying that this is a rare occurrence,” he said. “Trains parking across our streets.”

Eighteen months ago the city signed an agreement with Union Pacific Railroad -- the dominant carrier in this area — to try and cut the problem of trains blocking streets.

Still, when the mayor and U.S. Surface Transportation Board Chair Chip Nottingham toured the area by helicopter Monday, what did they see? A train blocking several intersections.

“Clearly it is a huge problem if you live here, and you can’t get where you need to go,” Nottingham said. “Or an ambulance can’t get where it needs to go.”

The mayor is floating what he calls a concrete plan to fine railroads that block city streets – as much as $15,000 per instance.

“Do it where it will be of some consequence to the company,” Mayor White said. “Then the company will change its behavior.”

The problem is virtually anything that involves the railroad requires federal action.

“We are gonna look at that,” Nottingham said.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board is one of two federal agencies that oversee railroads. The problem is clear, but the solution isn’t.

“One neighborhood’s solution is often pushing the problem in to the next neighborhood or the next town or the next county,” Nottingham said.

Count on Union Pacific to fight any fine plan.

“Obviously the railroad takes that very seriously,” Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona said. “We would not want any community to fine us for not keeping crossings open.”

They call it traffic for a reason: road, rail or both.

Mayor White’s plan would use the fine money to help fund improvements to at grade crossings, of which there are more than 1,200 in the Houston area.