CLEVELAND – The city handed CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern 99 first-degree misdemeanor violations for falling concrete, high weeds, and graffiti issues on railroad-owned bridges and other property within the city, reports WEWS-TV.
Cleveland residents have complained about the railroad property conditions previously to the point that Justin Bibb, Cleveland mayor, asked residents to report the worst situations. Bibb sent letters to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the two Class I railroads detailing the problem. [see “Cleveland calls on railroads to fix bridges needing ‘critical repairs’,” News Wire, June 9, 2023.]
The city is now proceeding with legal action to correct the public eyesores and safety concerns.
“The violations are part of a general, aggressive code enforcement approach established by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to force companies to meet their responsibilities,” says David Roberts, chief assistant director of law for code enforcement. “We’re not actually citing them to repair the bridges, that’s a federal requirement, and we have turned them into the federal government to say you need to come out and inspect these bridges. … But even if they want to say that it’s not very serious to have one bridge with graffiti and weeds and crumbling concrete, that’s serious to us; that’s someone’s neighborhood, someone walks through there, someone drives through there.”
The city has also reported the situation to the FRA, asking “the federal agency to conduct structural inspections of all railroad bridges in Cleveland.”
Commenting on the situation and citations, CSX issued a statement:
“CSX’s top priority is the safety and security of our operations, which includes the inspection and maintenance of our bridges and infrastructure. CSX’s bridges are maintained to federal standards and are regularly inspected to ensure their structural integrity. We have been in regular contact with officials in Cleveland regarding on this matter and just last week conducted a tour of our bridges in the city with a group of state officials to address any concerns.
We are reviewing the violations and will respond appropriately.”
Norfolk Southern also responded with a statement:
“Our bridges in Ohio are often landmarks in our local communities — and how they look can be a resident’s first perception of how safe they are. In Ohio, we’ve invested $100 million in installation, rehabilitation, and replacement projects over the last 5 years. In the next five, we anticipate more than $240 million in bridge projects in the state, many of which are referenced in recent reports. While those take time, we’ve been working with local officials to understand and address concerns alongside regular inspections under FRA standards to ensure our bridges remain safe.”
Roberts says that Cleveland is “prepared to move forward on all violations in Cleveland Housing Court if repairs and improvements aren’t started by Sept. 12th.” If found guilty, CSX and NS could face fines of $5,000 per day per violation notice.
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