G & W officials discuss projects, concerns

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

While it may be until June until scheduled railroad improvements are completed — and possibly longer for some city projects — railroad executives who met with Van Wert County officials on Tuesday dispelled rumors of serious rail problems locally.

During a meeting scheduled by County Emergency Management Director Rick McCoy, a variety of county officials, including fire chiefs, city and village officials, school officials, Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach and County Commissioners Thad Lichtensteiger and Todd Wolfrum, were on hand to question representatives of the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad, which operates the main railroad lines in the county.

Leonard Wagner, vice president-transportation for G & W’s Ohio Valley Region Railroads, led the discussion for the company, talking about efforts the company makes to ensure the railroad lines are safe and operational. Those efforts include regular visual inspections, as well as other checks to ensure rails maintain their physical integrity, including computerized and sensor inspections.

“Maintenance of the way is an ongoing process,” he said, adding that G & W protocols exceed those required by the federal government.

Wagner told those present that railroad ties generally last from 15 to 40 years, adding that the condition of the ties is not necessarily related to their age, adding that the amount of rail traffic has a much more significant effect on rails.

“We have rails installed in the 1950s that have very little wear,” Wagner said, noting that all railroads were “over-engineered” when first installed, designed to handle 100 trains a day instead of the six or so daily trains now running locally.

Wagner and other railroad officials attending, which included Charles Hunter, G & W assistant vice president for government affairs; John Hillborn, PE, G & W vice president of engineering for the Ohio Valley Region Railroads; and Daniel Pavick, general manager of G & W’s Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern Railroad, also dispelled a rumor that serious rail problems had occurred in the county.

Wagner noted that, other than the normal railroad tie replacement, two small rail sections had broken at the Hoaglin Center Road crossing and on the line between Bockey and Converse Roselm roads. Those rail sections were quickly repaired as part of protocols the railroad has in place for such occurrences, Wagner said.

He also noted that railroad officials are hoping that all rail improvement work to allow trains to run 40 miles per hour through the county will be completed by June. That would apparently include rail-crossing improvements in Van Wert as well.

However, Wagner did have bad news for city residents who expect trains will run 40 mph through the city, noting that, because of a curve in the track within the city, trains can only have a maximum speed of 25 mph while operating here.

That’s still an improvement over the 10 mph that trains are currently running at while in Van Wert.

Wagner, who was surprised at the number of officials who attended the meeting, volunteered to return and answer specific concerns that individual groups, such as school officials, had about safety and other issues.