Baltimore admits it is not doing enough to inspect rail infrastructure, vows again to do better

Written by RT&S Staff

For the second time in as many days, a deteriorating CSX bridge is making headlines.

This time the news comes out of West Baltimore, where residents continue to complain about a rail bridge that crosses over West North Avenue. A pipe continues to leak water, and on Aug. 25 a man suffered a concussion when debris, described as a piece of wood, fell on top of him. 

Back in 2014, a retaining wall owned by CSX collapsed in Charles Village causing damage to East 26th Street. At the time the Baltimore DOT made a commitment to regularly inspecting CSX right-of-way all over the city. The emphasis would be placed on aging retaining walls, viaducts and bridges. Four years later a second portion of 26th Street buckled and collapsed, and the DOT admitted nothing had been done concerning the rail infrastructure.

After the latest incident on West North Avenue the DOT is once again promising it will conduct further inspections. The bridge was built by Western Maryland Railway, but the elimination of passenger service and the closure of the Port Covington export yards have reduced freight traffic considerably.

Today just one or two trains use the bridge on a daily basis.

Read more articles on rail bridges.

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