A train moves along tracks that pass through Allegheny Commons park on Pittsburgh’s North Side. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)
Updated 2/21/19: The City of Pittsburgh said Thursday that it is asking Norfolk Southern to submit alternate plans to the company’s proposed train route. The city’s director of mobility and infrastructure criticized the railroad for being unresponsive to city requests, according to a Feb. 19 letter to the Public Utility Commission. The city also said today that it filed a related protest with the PUC two weeks ago. Before publication of this story, a city spokesperson told PublicSource that city officials would not be commenting.
Glenn Olcerst spent more than an hour explaining the dangers of increasing train traffic through Pittsburgh to about 50 residents in the Allegheny West neighborhood on a Monday evening in February.
Glenn Olcerst spent more than an hour explaining the dangers of increasing train traffic through Pittsburgh to about 50 residents in the Allegheny West neighborhood on a Monday evening in February.
Olcerst is a North Side resident who, along with his wife, Barbara Talerico, is leading the fight against a $29 million proposal by Norfolk Southern Corporation to redirect double-stack train traffic from its congested line south of the Monongahela River, and instead run them from the North Side through the center of Pittsburgh’s East End.
On Monday, a group founded by Olcerst and Talerico called Rail Pollution Protection Pittsburgh [RP3], urged the state Public Utility Commission [PUC] to investigate whether Norfolk Southern is properly inspecting infrastructure, such as bridges, or “ignoring the results.” Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Allegheny, has also asked PUC to look into the matter.