(The following story by Jeff Himler appeared on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review website on November 28.)
INDIANA, Pa. — Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad is preparing to pull out of the station with plans for a coal route through this central Indiana County town, sending trains across the west end of the borough for the first time in a decade. And many local residents aren’t happy about it.
The project got a boost last week from the federal Surface Transportation Board, which approved BPR’s plan to purchase 16.82 miles of track from CSX Transportation between Creekside and Homer City.
BPR is proposing to rehabilitate the idle track so it can supply the Homer City power plant with 60 or more trains per year, each containing 40 carloads of coal. The rail carrier has set July as a target for beginning the shipments.
But White Township resident Fred Manecke still hopes to derail that plan. Manecke, who lives along the tracks on Forest Ridge Road just outside of Indiana, raised many concerns and questions about BPR’s proposal in a Nov. 10 letter to the STB.
Though his letter did not dissuade federal officials from expediting the rail transfer, Manecke has since sought legal advice, with hopes of still halting the project, although those hopes may be quixotic. He got no support from the Indiana County commissioners at their meeting this week.
Monday is the deadline for filing a petition to stay the STB’s decision, while petitions to reopen the case may be filed until Dec. 9. Otherwise, the exemption takes effect Dec. 19.
“They are trying to do it fast, without going through the process and the environmental studies,” Manecke said of BPR.
Staying the case, he noted, would provide more time for him or others who oppose the project to gather facts and pursue an appeal.
When he learned about the project last spring, Manecke said, he admits he just didn’t want trains rumbling past his home. But, after inquiring with government officials and conferring with other concerned citizens, he concluded, “It’s more than that. A lot of people are going to be affected by this.”
Trains will interrupt traffic at 13 street crossings in Indiana, most notably on Oakland Avenue and Philadelphia Street. They’ll also cut through the western edge of the IUP campus, along the tennis courts.
Further north, in White Township, 10 families on Braughler Road will find themselves cut off from Martin Road–their lifeline to either Indiana or the smaller towns of Creekside and Ernest–when a coal train passes over their narrow access road.
Manecke was among residents who petitioned the White Township supervisors to seek removal of that crossing and to smooth out a bump in the road.
David Romance also opposes the railroad. He, his wife and baby daughter live between the tracks and Martin Road and, thus, are among the few who will not have to worry about being detained by a line of coal cars.
Likely, the only physical change he’d be required to make to his property would be relocating his mailbox away from the crossing. Still, being so close to the tracks makes him concerned about quality of life.
He said he’s “concerned about the noise. Are the trains going to blow their whistles when they come through?”
Although there were no guarantees, Romance “felt pretty sure trains wouldn’t come out here again” when his family moved from Indiana, constructing a new home on land which had been in the family for several generations.
But, “We’d only been here a short time when they started to talk about the trains.”
Tina Bruno-Davis and her family are among the neighbors who could find themselves temporarily boxed in by a BPR train.
“We won’t have any clue when it’s coming,” she said of the train, noting it could delay her when she drives to work or takes her son to school.
Once the train has cleared the Braughler crossing, she added, “I could run into it all over again out on (Martin) road.”
Bruno-Davis believes, “The chances of an emergency happening are pretty slim,” at the same time a fire truck or paramedic crew is rushing to assist a resident in the neighborhood.
But such a delay isn’t impossible. She noted, “We’ve had the ambulance up here twice since we moved here,” in the 1980s.
According to Manager Larry Garner, White Township officials opted against pursuing removal of the Braughler crossing with the state Public Utility Commission after sources “knowledgeable in that area” informally advised there would be little chance of gaining approval.
Garner noted “We have a few (railroad) crossings on the northern end of the township,” including two on Martin Road. But, he learned, since the Creekside-Homer City line (referred to as the “Homer City line” in STB documents) was only suspended in 1993, not abandoned, CSX and its successors–in this case, BPR–have the right to resume use of the track and its crossings.
At the latter locations, he noted, BPR would “only have to restore what was there before. Up until 15 years ago, that was an active railroad.”
To help with restoration of the Homer City line and other track rehabilitation, BPR recently was awarded a $2 million grant from the state’s capital budget. That grant was among $10 million in funding Gov. Ed Rendell released in October for 11 different rail-freight improvement projects across the state.
BPR officials have not stated a total estimated cost for the Homer City line project. But they have indicated the rail carrier’s investment will match or exceed the state funding.
According to the STB’s published Nov. 19 decision in the case, BPR initially leased the Homer City line from CSX from 1988 to 1993. At that point, BPR and CSX jointly were granted authority to discontinue operations on the line, citing declining traffic.
The STB document further notes that BPR now is proposing to send “one or two trains per week” to the Homer City plant–loaded with coal from Rosebud Mining in Freeport. Other coal and rail officials have cited four weekly round trips for the trains.
CSX would retain trackage rights on the Homer City line, but has no immediate plans to use the, according to the STB document. To reach Creekside, BPR wants to obtain additional “incidental trackage rights” on another 24 miles of CSX track beginning at Cloe, Jefferson County.
Another area rail carrier, Norfolk Southern, currently is using the same section of track to ship coal to the Keystone power plant near Shelocta. But it is proposing to construct a new 5.4-mile rail link between Saltsburg and Clarksburg, which would provide a shorter route to the plant.
Although the BPR train shipments would account for only about 50,000 tons of the 5 to 6 million tons of coal burned annually at the Homer City power plant, it’s estimated they would create 50 or more new jobs at the mining company and four new positions for BPR–a locomotive engineer, a conductor and two maintenance people.
In Indiana, an upgrade of the rail crossing at Oakland Avenue (Rt. 286) and Grant Street has been wrapped into an overall $1.6 million Oakland Avenue improvement project. In addition to installation of crossing arms at the intersection, new features will include a traffic light and a turning lane.
Jim Struzzi, spokesman for PennDOT’s local District 10, indicated Oakland project planners originally were considering removing the crossing at Grant Street. But, when it appeared likely that the tracks would see use again, “We decided it would be cheaper to replace the crossing along with the other construction.”
According to Struzzi, work is expected to begin in the spring, with $500,000 budgeted for the crossing.
Funding for the entire Oakland Avenue upgrade includes $600,000 in federal allocations and $880,000 contributed by IUP.
Indiana Borough Manager Jim Gladkosky noted “there are concerns for some people” about access to the west end of town being hindered when the coal trains arrive.
Those concerns should soon be alleviated on at least one count: response to fires in the western sections of the borough and neighboring White Township. Gladkosky pointed out a spring groundbreaking also is planned for the Indiana Fire Department’s new White Township substation, to be located near PennDOT district headquarters off Rt. 286 West.
At a recent meeting with local municipal officials, Gladkosky noted BPR officials “gave assurances the (coal) trains would not be lengthy, and they won’t be continually running.” Train speeds of 10 to 25 mph also were cited at the meeting.
Gladkosky believes BPR officials are “really trying to bend over backwards” to work with the community. Rail spokesmen also have suggested “there can be advanced communications” to alert local officials “when a train would go through town,” Gladkosky said.
In addition to “crossing renewal,” numerous other track improvements will be necessary for BPR to resume use of the Homer City line. According to the rail carrier’s petition for exemption, it expects to undertake rail and tie replacement and brush control.
Gladkosky questioned if BPR would be able to complete the needed upgrades in time for a July start-up of the coal route.
“With all the crossings that have to be repaired and the trees that have to be taken care of, they’re going to have to hustle to get trains on the tracks this summer,” he said.
BPR officials in Punxsutawney and Rochester, N.Y., were not immediately available for additional comment.
Manecke pointed out BPR will have to replace about four-tenths mile of track which is missing south of the Braughler crossing and another mile-long stretch south of Rt. 110 between Ernest and Creekside.
He questioned whether complete reconstruction of those rail segments is consistent with BPR’s statement that the planned track rehabilitation consists of “types of work that would normally be done on a periodic basis.”
Last week, STB granted BPR an exemption from a more involved application process normally required for purchasing another rail line.
“Regulation…is not needed to protect shippers from abuse of market power,” STB said of the rail transaction, noting, “The proposed restoration of rail service to Homer City will increase shippers’ transportation alternatives.”
STB also granted BPR’s request that its proposed take-over of the CSX line be exempt from environmental and historic reporting requirements. STB found that the rail transaction “will not significantly affect either the quality of the human environment or the conservation of energy resources.”
But Manecke expressed concern that reconstruction of the missing mile-long segment of track near Rt. 110 could have an impact on wetlands. Visiting the site, he has made note of several ponds near the right-of-way where rails used to run.
A spokesman for RNS Services of Ebensburg, which operates a mine reclamation project in the vicinity, indicated the ponds likely are man-made features excavated in conjunction with current strip mining at the site.
According to the spokesman, RNS had to remediate some wetlands in another area further removed from Rt. 110, as part of its reclamation of an old Rochester & Pittsburgh coal refuse pile.