To freight railroad CSX, the metal span that carries its track over North Main Street in the village of Pittsford is just another bridge.

No matter that it's 108 years old or that parts of it have rusted or crumbled away, or that, like other railroad bridges, it's never been given a clean bill of health by a government inspector.

CSX's own inspector has gone over it, the railroad said, and bridge number WS 521098U is a bit time-worn but solid as a rock.

To passers-by, however, the bridge is a disaster waiting to happen.

"This is scarier than I thought. This is really serious," said Ellen Smith, a Mendon resident who has seen the bridge numerous times as she drives on North Main. "This bridge should be shut down right away. It is obvious to a casual observer that this bridge is dangerous."

The difference of opinion about the Pittsford railroad bridge, one of many in Monroe County that are more than a century old, is illustrative of fresh concern about the safety of railroad infrastructure.

That concern, mainly driven by the dramatic rise in rail transport of explosive Bakken crude oil, has manifested itself in public complaints recently in Minneapolis, Cleveland, South Bend, Indiana, and Philadelphia, where a crude-oil tanker was left dangling over the Schuylkill River when several cars derailed on a railroad bridge in January.

Now, some observers think Pittsford, the historic east-side village, should be added to that list.

The bridge, built in 1906, carries the one track that makes up the West Shore line, which passes through Monroe County's southern suburbs and allows freight trains to bypass the railroad's main line. Oil trains often use the West Shore line.

Countless iron plates on the bridge superstructure are rusted through, and at least one small supporting piece is gone. Bolts are missing or loose. Stone and concrete on the walls that support either end of the bridge have crumbled in spots, including a spot right under one of the rails.

Unlike some railroad bridges, it's right there for people to see: The bridge sits above village sidewalks frequented by walkers, runners and bicyclists, and a road with plenty of local vehicular traffic. Motorists frequently idle right next to the bridge superstructure when a nearby traffic signal is red.

"When I was sitting here waiting for the light, I happened to look at one of those beams over there and it didn't look very healthy," said Richard Krager, a Pittsford resident whose work as a volunteer driver for the elderly often takes him past the bridge.

"I have no idea what role these beams play in the safety of the bridge, but it does not instill confidence. I just don't think it's prudent to let your structure deteriorate like this."

CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle said the bridge, which is inspected annually, is fine.

He said officials at the Florida-based railroad are aware that some people "might have questions or concerns based on what is visible," but looks can be deceiving. "Cosmetic conditions don't reflect the structural soundness of a bridge" Doolittle said.

"It was last inspected in March and that inspection confirmed that the bridge is safe for rail operations," he said. "We are aware of the condition of the bridge and monitor it frequently to ensure that any necessary repairs are made promptly."

Doolittle declined to provide a copy of the bridge's inspection report or offer details of its findings, saying the information was proprietary.

CSX goes it alone

As a rule, American railroad companies are responsible for the safety of the bridges they own and use.

CSX and other railroads inspect their own bridges at least once a year. No government agency regularly inspects those same bridges, and no government agency regularly gets copies of the railroad's inspection findings.

The Federal Railroad Administration, or FRA, the primary regulator, inspects tracks but not bridges. It does not even have a list of the tens of thousands of rail bridges in use nationwide, spokesman Michael Booth said.

The FRA does audit each railroad's bridge management program annually, he said. But the FRA declined to release recent audits of CSX to the Democrat and Chronicle, saying an open records request was required. That request is now pending.

No state inspection

By law, all public roadway bridges must be inspected at least every other year, a task that in New York often falls to the state Department of Transportation. But like the FRA, the state DOT does not inspect privately owned railroad bridges.

Railroads operating in New York do have to submit bridge management plans and lists of their bridges to the state DOT, which maintains a database of rail bridges.

But in keeping with a general unwillingness to say anything about the Pittsford bridge, the agency declined to release a copy to the Democrat and Chronicle or to say what information existed in the database about that span. The Democrat and Chronicle has filed an open-records request for that database.

A 1994 state law also requires railroads to certify each year that they inspected all their bridges.

CSX's certification for 2013 for all of its bridges in New York state is one sentence long.

A state comptroller's audit of the DOT rail bridge oversight program, released in December, found that some records were out of date and others had not been submitted at all.

"The department does not sufficiently monitor whether the railroads comply with its bridge inspection and reporting requirements," wrote auditors, who added that the DOT was compromising its ability to ensure railroad bridges are safe.

All rail-bridge records have now been brought up to date, DOT spokesman Beau Duffy said. The agency also is developing a new system to better track the submissions that railroads are required to make.

Doolittle, the CSX spokesman, said the railroad fully complies with both state and federal rules, including those that lay out bridge inspection schedules and procedures, inspector qualifications and audit requirements.

Doolittle also noted that CSX employees inspect tracks atop railroad bridges several times a week, and are told to eyeball the bridges as well and report any apparent structural problems.

"We are aware of the bridge's condition and monitor it and all infrastructure regularly to ensure that any issues are addressed quickly," he said.

Local concerns

Pittsford village Mayor Robert Corby has been around the North Main Street bridge his entire life. He grew up in a home near it, and as a child his school-bus stop was directly underneath the span.

"I'm not an engineer myself so I'm not qualified to make an assessment one way or the other, but I think it is a concern. Through my lifetime, I've never seen any real maintenance done. It's been rusted since I was a schoolboy waiting for the bus," said Corby, who is 51.

He's sure the rust has worsened since his childhood, though.

Corby said residents have complained from time to time about the bridge's appearance, and he has contacted CSX about it several times.

"The last time was three or four years ago. We met there with a CSX engineer who had tested the bridge and told us it was structurally sound," Corby recalled.

Other than contacting CSX, he said, there's nothing local government can do.

Corby said his understanding had been that an average of 17 freight trains a day use the West Shore track. He assumes the number has risen with the surge in crude-oil shipments from North Dakota oil fields to East Coast refineries and the return of empty tank cars to the west.

One concern raised about crude-oil tankers is their weight, which puts extra stress on the roadbed and bridges. Loaded tank cars weigh up to 286,000 pounds, which is the maximum weight allowed on most freight lines.

Despite its small size, Pittsford village has three CSX railroad bridges, with a fourth just east of the village line. All appear to be of similar vintage, though the North Main Street span seems the most worn.

In all, the West Shore and CSX main line cross about 50 bridges over roads and waterways in Monroe County, most of them in the city of Rochester or the eastern suburbs. There are a handful of other railroad bridges in the county, on other CSX lines or those owned by Rochester & Southern Railroad.

The Democrat and Chronicle visited a dozen of the 50 bridges recently, and none had as much visible corrosion and wear as the Pittsford bridge.

Whether that span is more unsafe than other bridges isn't clear, but it may be the most maligned.

After the Democrat and Chronicle published a story three weeks ago about crude-oil trains passing through Monroe County, at least three readers emailed the newspaper to complain about the decrepit state of the bridge.

One was Fred Beltz, who, like Krager, gulped when he saw the bridge through the window of his idling car. "I've sat at that stop light and casually looked to my left and looked straight through the girder because of the big rusted holes. I don't know that I feel entirely comfortable sitting there under the bridge," said Beltz, who lives in Pittsford.

"Whoever built the bridge felt that those girders were needed for the safety of the bridge. Now that they're so badly rusted that they have holes three, four, five inches wide and it's still fine?" Beltz said. "Don't you find that a little incredible? I do."

As a reporter met with Krager and Smith at the bridge one recent morning, a man on a bike overheard the conversation as he rode by and turned his cycle around so he could add his two cents' worth.

"I live a mile down the street, and we sometimes eat at the restaurant there," said Steve Sussman. "We worry what happens when a train falls off the bridge and onto the building."

He pointed over his shoulder at the building that houses jojo Bistro & Wine Bar and the Pittsford Pub. It's about 100 feet from the bridge, at the bottom of the embankment on which the tracks sit.

Federal officials say that rail bridges rarely collapse; FRA administrator Joseph Szabo said in 2010 that there hadn't been a single fatality from a railroad bridge structural failure in 50 years.

But it's not unheard-of for trains to derail while passing over a bridge; in recent years, there have been bridge derailments in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Montreal, and Cheektowaga in Erie County, among other places.

Smith, the Mendon resident, said that's what worries her — that something could give on the North Main Street span, causing it to settle or shift enough under the weight of a heavy train to cause a derailment.

She fears that could have dire consequences, and thinks action is needed to lessen the risk.

"We realize that CSX or whoever has to use these tracks. But the condition this bridge is in just is not safe," Smith said. "Somebody should be checking this."



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What you can do

CSX Transportation ask people to alert them to unsafe condition on CSX tracks, bridges or highway rail crossings by calling a toll-free number, (877) 835-5279.

Coming Monday

North Dakota officials are exploring whether the Bakken crude oil that is being shipped through New York state can be made less volatile before it is shipped. Coming Monday in print and online at DemocratandChronicle.com.

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