Thu Sep 02 2010
by Jeff Saunders
Reporter
Macedonia -- Residents living near the Twinsburg Road railroad crossing west of Valley View Road may have to wait until the end of 2010 before train horns are silenced.
Six months after the city was awarded $168,000 in federal stimulus funding to install a "quiet zone" at the crossing near the Hudson border, negotiations on an agreement between the Ohio Rail Development Commission and Norfolk Southern Railroad were concluded in early November, said Greg McNeil, a Hudson resident who has chaired a residents committee that has been working on creating the zone for the last two years.
"Last week they had a breakthrough on it," said McNeil on Nov. 12. "At this point, we're anticipating the agreement will be signed and sealed by the end of the month."
McNeil said it may take as long as five months for work to begin, but he and Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta said they expected the project to be completed before the end of spring 2010.
"We're going to be working with Norfolk Southern on that," said McNeil. "This is a big hurdle down."
However, Megan McClory, the rail commission's secretary and treasurer, said the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will issue its own deadline for the project's completion.
McClory said this is likely to be one year from the date the railroad signs the agreement with Macedonia.
Kuchta signed the agreement on Macedonia's behalf Nov. 5.
McClory said the recently completed negotiations concerned Norfolk Southern's concerns over a federal requirement that the railroad provide extensive monthly reporting on the project.
"Federal stimulus funding comes with stringent requirements regarding employee time spent on the project," said McClory.
A Norfolk-Southern railroad spokesperson said he could not comment on the issue before press time as he was unfamiliar with the project.
Stuart Nicholson, a spokesperson for the Ohio Rail Development Commission, which is administering the project, said Nov. 12 some engineering work also needs to be finished.
Nicholson said that while preliminary engineering has been done by the railroad, final engineering still needs to be completed and the city will then need to formally apply to the Federal Railroad Administration for quiet zone status at the crossing before work can begin.
According to the agreement between Macedonia and the railroad, Macedonia will use most of the stimulus funding to reimburse the railroad for work it does to upgrade electronic signals at the stop.
The cost of that work has been estimated at $136,000.
The upgrade will ensure the crossing gates will close at a set interval before the train arrives, no matter the train's speed. The present electronic system is activated when the train reaches a certain distance from the crossing, but doesn't take the train's speed into account.
Concrete barriers meant to prevent vehicles from going around lowered gates will also be built down the center of the road on either side of the crossing.
The city would install the barriers at an estimated cost of $32,000.
Once the electronic upgrade is completed and the concrete barriers are installed, trains would no longer be required to blow their horns at the crossing, except in emergencies -- such as if a train engineer sees a person walking on the tracks.
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
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