(The Associated Press circulated the following story on July 24.)
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Neighborhood residents cheered Thursday as the first of 400 rail cars filled with rotting trash rolled out of a rail yard where they have sat for months.
“It’s a relief knowing some of it is leaving,” said Mary Taber, one of a handful of residents who stayed up to watch the overnight departure. “It’s a start, it’s not the end.”
The 20 million to 40 million pounds of trash will be moved to an out-of-state landfill over the next month. About 120 cars left in the first group.
Neighbors of the rail yard have complained for months that they have been overrun by flies and rodents and unable to enjoy their back yards and porches because of the odor from the trash.
The so-called trash train originated in New York City. New York-based Chem-Rail Logistics shipped the garbage to Buffalo, where it was to be transferred to trucks and driven to a Niagara County landfill. But the Modern Landfill began refusing the waste when Chem-Rail got behind on its bill, authorities said.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer brought legal action in May accusing Chem-Rail and two other companies of violating environmental laws and creating a public nuisance.
Assistant Attorney General Linda White said Chem-Rail, along with Express Intermodal Services _ the company hired to transfer the trash from train to truck _ remain subject to legal action. The state will likely drop action against Canadian Pacific Railway Co. once the trash is gone, White said.
Numerous messages left since May at the offices of Chem-Rail Logistics have gone unreturned. The owner of Buffalo-based Express Intermodal has said his company was a subcontractor of Chem-Rail and had to stop work when the landfill refused to accept the trash.
The trash finally began moving Thursday following a series of court-ordered negotiations.