by railtrailbiker
Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef wants to know why the county hasn't heard from CSX Transportation in months about safety issues along the railroad's 23 miles of tracks.
"It's outrageous," Vanderhoef said after writing a third letter to the company, this time to CSX President Michael Ward. "Not to respond to this kind of concern, from any individual, for months raises serious questions about whether CSX has any real concern about safety in the communities in which they travel."
Vanderhoef started his letter to Ward citing "sheer frustration" at getting no response from CSX senior management to letters written in June and September.
County officials want answers about last year's train derailment in Haverstraw and two incidents in which trains were not held while firefighters ran hoses across CSX's tracks to battle fires in remote areas of north Rockland.
John Casellini, the company's regional vice president for the area that includes New York, said he was sorry that Vanderhoef felt slighted and he would move quickly to speak directly with the county executive.
"I think his comments are warranted about our failure to formally respond to him," Casellini said late Friday. "I have already reached out to him today. This communication chain will be closed. … It's been my inability to pick up the pieces and move this forward."
Casellini said the county wants answers about the Feb. 19, 2004, accident in which four hopper cars and a locomotive derailed while heading north in Haverstraw, spilling nearly 200 tons of the pebbly silicon metal cargo, a nonhazardous substance.
He said the key question that still needs to be answered is why the train's three-member crew uncoupled the engine and headed more than three miles north toward West Haverstraw, where they met police but could not pinpoint the rest of the train's location or knew whether the cargo was hazardous.
"They want to have something in writing, they want the whole answer," Casellini said. "We still only have partial answers."
He said the railroad's efforts to complete the record for the county were handicapped when a key member of the incident team went on medical leave. That should be resolved soon, he said.
On the matter of running trains that were supposed to be held, Casellini said the company was responsible for at least the later incident.
"I think we own that one," Casellini said. "That's part of what we've tried to fix. But we've run 25 trains a day, 365 days a year since June 1, 1999, and we're talking about three incidents. They are three very important instances, but there are thousands of train movements that have occurred."
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... 09csx.html
"It's outrageous," Vanderhoef said after writing a third letter to the company, this time to CSX President Michael Ward. "Not to respond to this kind of concern, from any individual, for months raises serious questions about whether CSX has any real concern about safety in the communities in which they travel."
Vanderhoef started his letter to Ward citing "sheer frustration" at getting no response from CSX senior management to letters written in June and September.
County officials want answers about last year's train derailment in Haverstraw and two incidents in which trains were not held while firefighters ran hoses across CSX's tracks to battle fires in remote areas of north Rockland.
John Casellini, the company's regional vice president for the area that includes New York, said he was sorry that Vanderhoef felt slighted and he would move quickly to speak directly with the county executive.
"I think his comments are warranted about our failure to formally respond to him," Casellini said late Friday. "I have already reached out to him today. This communication chain will be closed. … It's been my inability to pick up the pieces and move this forward."
Casellini said the county wants answers about the Feb. 19, 2004, accident in which four hopper cars and a locomotive derailed while heading north in Haverstraw, spilling nearly 200 tons of the pebbly silicon metal cargo, a nonhazardous substance.
He said the key question that still needs to be answered is why the train's three-member crew uncoupled the engine and headed more than three miles north toward West Haverstraw, where they met police but could not pinpoint the rest of the train's location or knew whether the cargo was hazardous.
"They want to have something in writing, they want the whole answer," Casellini said. "We still only have partial answers."
He said the railroad's efforts to complete the record for the county were handicapped when a key member of the incident team went on medical leave. That should be resolved soon, he said.
On the matter of running trains that were supposed to be held, Casellini said the company was responsible for at least the later incident.
"I think we own that one," Casellini said. "That's part of what we've tried to fix. But we've run 25 trains a day, 365 days a year since June 1, 1999, and we're talking about three incidents. They are three very important instances, but there are thousands of train movements that have occurred."
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... 09csx.html
