The December 20, 2005 City Council hearing on CSX’s operations in Philadelphia was a first. For the first time, CSX sent two representatives who gave substantive information about its movement of trains along Schuylkill River Park. While it was a first step, it was in a positive direction. But, the real issue is will it be the first of many.
CSX described in some detail how it moves various trains through Philadelphia and how those trains come to block access into Schuylkill River Park. CSX's William Goetz and Larry Koster focused on the scheduling of the garbage trains and the location of crew changes as being the main reasons why freight cars sit on the tracks, especially at Locust Street. They also talked about “high priority” trains, which CSX moves in and out of its East Side Yard (south of Grays Ferry Ave.). Goetz said that they were about 50% through an “investigation” as to how they can reduce the parking by modifying where crews change and better garbage train are management. As reported in today’s Inquirer in a story by Jennifer Lin, Goetz said they wanted to “soften the impact” of the parking.
The $64,000 question is, will whatever CSX does to “soften the impact” be enough to make train movement on top of Locust Street as infrequent as on top of Race Street? If they do accomplish that, will CSX then agree to a pedestrian at-grade crossing at Locust, just as it has at Race Street in its negotiations with the City under Judge Kauffman’s oversight? These two questions were asked repeatedly by Council members Nutter, Clarke, Kelley, O’Neill, and Council President Verna. CSX refused to answer its thoughts on Locust Street, citing the litigation and the confidentiality of the settlement negotiations as the reason. Council members peppered CSX with other questions about why parking is so much more frequent during summer months (answer: scheduled maintenance and crews on vacation), if train crews could change on the west side of the River (answer: they’re looking into it), if more track capacity in the East Side yard could solve the problem (no direct answer), if money were no object, could this matter be resolved (no direct answer), and what is the purpose of signal shack at Vine Street (answer: switching).
Click here to see how we compiled the data from "blocked access forms" park users submitted to show that parking is most frequent during the warmer months. Keep sending in those forms when you see a train is blocking access at Race or Locust Street by clicking here.
Thank you Councilman Nutter, Clarke, Kelley, O’Neill and Council President Vern and your staffs for successfully getting CSX to finally provide substantive testimony and asking tough questions! Thank you also to park users who came to listen and provided support by holding signs. We expect that Councilman Nutter's Committee to hold additional hearings in 2006 to focus on hazardous material transport, bridge maintenance and billboards.
Recent Comments