Trains Will Run Slow Through The Village For Some Time To Come
Area Lawmakers Get Conflicting Stories About Pan Am Rail Repairs
by Doug La Rocque
For the past month, we have been reporting on efforts by County Legislators Bruce Patire and Jeff Wysocki, along with Hoosick Councilman Jerry McAuliffe, to determine if a culvert at mile post 442.9 on the Pan-Am Railway tracks in the Village, was unsafe, and presents the potential for an accident. Legislators Patire and Wysocki urged the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) to inspect the site near the end of Railroad Avenue for safety. That inspection was conducted on August 8 of this year, but it took until December, and only after a foil request, for DOT to send a copy of the report to Mr. Patire.
According to Mr. Patire, the report seems to contradict information he was given two weeks ago, that the repair of that section of track was high on Pan-Am’s work list. According to the report, there is no violation present, as long as trains continue to travel at 10 miles per hour through the village. The report (of which The Eastwick Press has obtained a copy) said maximum deviation on tangent track was 1.5 inches, with up to 3 inches allowed at Class 1 speeds (10 miles per hour). The report also says deviation from uniform alignment and uniform profile on either track, was also within federal guidelines while at that Class 1 speed. The report further mentions that at the time of the inspection, the culvert area was “recently tamped/surfaced” by Pan-Am Railways crews. DOT does not recommend any further repairs.
That does not sit well with Bob Downey, a Railroad Avenue resident who has lived in the same house along the tracks since birth. He said the July flood of 2017 washed out a major section of the track, and he feels Pan-Am never properly repaired it. He tells The Eastwick Press the gravel under the tracks around the culvert continues to wash away. He claims all Pan-Am does is replace some of it, until the next time. He is further concerned that with the weight of some of these freight cars passing over it, it could still give way, even at 10 miles per hour. He also said if there were to be a derailment, some of these freight cars are carrying propane and oil, and fears the result could be catastrophic. That is a sentiment also expressed by Legislator Patire, who also wonders if some of these trains passing through the Village at night are not exceeding the 10 mile per hour limit. He wants DOT to tell him what the amount of allowable track deviation is at 20 to 30 miles per hour.
So what is next? Legislator Patire said he plans an appeal to DOT, not only about the condition of the track at the culvert, but also because he feels that back ups caused at crossings by the slow moving trains is not just inconvenient but perhaps creates a hazard in itself. He also mentioned he has seen school buses stuck in these backups for extended periods of time.
Pan-Am has recently undertaken rail replacement in the area and several other spots in the Town of Hoosick, but according to Mr. Downey, did nothing about the trouble spot, other than to put down some more gravel.