(SEPTA issued the following news release on February 3.)
PHILADELPHIA — SEPTA has reached an agreement to settle legal claims against American Premier Underwriters, Inc. (APU, the successor of the Penn Central Railroad) over reimbursement of the costs associated with the extensive cleanup of the 28-acre Paoli Rail Yard in Chester County. The agreement calls for APU to pay $23 million to SEPTA, of which SEPTA is obligated to pay Conrail approximately $9 million.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Allen D. Biehler, P.E. said, “On behalf of the Commonwealth, I commend SEPTA for aggressively pursuing the claim and acting as a good steward of the taxpayers’ money.”
The environmental contamination in the Paoli Rail Yard was caused by a coolant that was at one time used in rail car transformers. In 1986 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered SEPTA, Conrail and Amtrak to clean up and remediate the site. The three railroads did so, but preserved their claims that Penn Central Railroad (now APU) was responsible for most of the contamination.
In the early 1990s SEPTA and the successor railroads instituted a lawsuit in United States District Court. Approximately two years ago SEPTA’s Legal Division began to pursue the claims aggressively through an outside law firm.
“I would like to congratulate SEPTA General Counsel Nicholas Staffieri and his legal team for their dedication and professional skills in bringing this complicated issue to a successful conclusion,” said SEPTA General Manager Faye Moore. “We welcome the financial settlement. However, these dollars will be used to pay for previously incurred cleanup costs and some final cleanup efforts expected to occur over the next year,” she said.