The Norco Civic Association has raised safety concerns over a pile of crossties on the railroad tracks by Spruce St. in Norco, saying repeated requests to have the pile removed for the past two years have fallen on deaf ears.
Association president Stephen Weber said the group has communicated with Canadian National Railway, which runs the track, but that the company’s brief effort to remove the debris in fall of 2019 ceased after a week with much of the job undone. He also noted no effort to finish the job has seemingly been made since.
He said his concerns over the safety of the pile rose to the surface once again last week, after learning the Norco Fire Department had been called to the scene and that investigators believe someone attempted to set fire to the crossties.
“It’s not only unsightly, but it’s unsafe,” Weber said. “And this last incident, someone tried to light it on fire, I said ‘you know what, something has to be done because someone’s gonna get hurt.’
“I grew up here, I know how it is. Kids are hanging out back there, doing things they shouldn’t be doing, riding four wheelers and motorbikes.
“The police think kids were involved. Why they’re trying to set that on fire, that’s another question. But it should have been moved a long time ago. I’m worried you’ll have kids hanging out there and that someone’s getting hurt, eventually.”
Weber said late last year, Association representatives spoke with parish officials about having the railroad company remove the debris, and things began to move – briefly.
“They brought an old box car there and were loading the trash onto the box car, started removing it … and then they just stopped,” Weber said. “It might have gone on for a week.”
Weber also noted that some new crossties have been placed there, and believes Canadian National could be beginning to do some new work on the railroad.
“I just have a feeling they’re going to use that to say ‘we’re doing some work right there, we’re gonna remove that pile later on,’ but that’s happened before, and the pile is still there,” Weber said. “There’s two new piles, not far from the trash heap … they may be beginning some work, but I don’t think it’s an excuse to leave a pile of junk there another week, let alone two years.
“Canadian National Railway, they know it’s there … it’s amazing to me how unsightly it is when I go through that neighborhood, but the safety issue is paramount.”
Funny how it’s the railroads property and people are trespassing on that property. It wouldn’t surprise me that the person complaining tried to set the fire to make the railroad do something about it. The tracks were there long before anyone living today , you moved there fully knowing that the tracks were there . The general rule of thumb is if you’re within 10 feet of the rail , you’re trespassing.
Well it’s railroad property. No one is supposed to be trespassing on railroad property, it’s posted. They, the railroads can do what they want with their own property. That’s like living by the airport and complaining there are airplane parts by the fence that’s ugly and you want them removed. I’m sure eventually they’ll remove the cross ties but it was ruled many years ago that the railroads that have sovereign property, meaning you have no right to be on it or cross it. You only have railroad crossings because the railroads allow them and parishes must pay for them. If you don’t want to get anyone hurt, stay off of their property. If you don’t like the way it looks, don’t look. This is the big concern in Norco? If it is that much concern maybe the police and the civic association should be there to make sure no kids on four wheelers are trespassing, because they are the ones breaking the law.