(The following article by Sarah Lundy, Susan Jacobson, Rene Stutzman, Gary Taylor and Henry Pierson was posted on the Orlando Sentinel website on January 3.)
SANFORD, Fla. — CSX Transportation Inc. has filed suit against Progress Energy Inc., alleging some of the power company’s equipment in Longwood has caused railroad-signal problems for four years — something that has cost the railway $135,000.
The suit, filed in state circuit court in Sanford on Friday, alleges the railroad signed a utility-easement contract with Progress Energy in 1994, agreeing to let the company put equipment on railroad property.
The agreement, though, requires Progress Energy to pay for any problems that equipment causes, according to the suit, and power-company gear at one spot in Longwood has created intermittent signal problems since summer 2001.
Each year, the railroad has sent the power company a bill to cover the costs of repairs and labor, according to the suit, but the power company has refused to pay.
C.J. Drake, a power-company spokesman, would not comment.