(The following article by Thomas Ott was posted on the Cleveland Plain Dealer website on October 10.)
MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — The city has asked a federal judge to halt a railroad yard expansion that officials fear will turn Maple Heights into a terrorist target.
Norfolk Southern plans to build a second station where trains and trucks drop off and pick up shipping containers. It would be near an existing station along tracks south of Broadway Avenue, with work beginning in about a week, spokesman Rudy Husband said.
Maple Heights wants Norfolk Southern to submit plans for city approval, but the railroad says it answers only to federal regulators. The response frustrates city officials, who are afraid the extra freight will draw terrorists who will rig cargo with explosives or chemicals.
Officials say security at the existing yard is lax. They want the railroad to restrict access to some areas and protect them with surveillance cameras.
“There’s no reason to think someone somewhere isn’t contemplating how to get a dirty bomb into a rail car,” said Mayor Michael Ciaravino, who questioned monitoring of the nation’s seaports and cargo system. “We’re saying we have to slow down and address security concerns.”
Husband said Norfolk Southern has a security plan, but he declined to disclose details.
Maple Heights Law Director Timothy Toma said cities have the power to make railroads obey building and safety codes. The city filed suit Friday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to block construction until the railroad complies with city regulations.
Maple Heights has raised other issues, such as drainage and whether lights will disturb residents who live as close as 100 feet from the tracks.
A small part of the new site is in Bedford, where City Manager Bob Reid worries that trucks will clog a two-lane stretch of Broadway as they pass through the city’s historic downtown on the way to Interstate 271.
Rep. Steven LaTourette, a Concord Township Republican who chairs the House subcommittee on railroads, will try to mediate, spokesman Dino DiSanto said. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Cleveland Democrat who represents Maple Heights, will also be involved.
Maple Heights sued Norfolk Southern in federal court six years ago, demanding that the railroad curb noise at its facility. The railroad agreed to noise controls in a settlement reached two years later.