A Twitter post shows the damage to the Station Square light rail station. The agency which operates the light rail system is billing Norfolk Southern $3 million for the costs of repairs.
Port Authority of Allegheny County Twitter account
PITTSBURGH — The Port Authority of Allegheny County is billing Norfolk Southern about $3 million for damages to its light rail system resulting from an NS derailment last summer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
The August derailment sent cars from an NS stack train down a hill onto the light rail route below. It closed the Station Square light rail station for 18 days and required 22 days for a full return to service. [See “Pittsburgh light rail station reopens after derailment,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 23, 2018.] Its bill covers the cost of replacing 1,600 feet of track, 4,000 feet of overhead electrical lines and supports, fiber optic lines for signaling, a retaining wall, and a sidewalk.
A Norfolk Southern spokesman declined comment.
Only $3 million!?
NS know what things cost, so this is very cheap. This is not news as they will pay up and move on.
Mister Warfel:
It’s difficult to see how an application of the Law of General Average could be applied in this particular case. Material was damaged to be sure but all material was recovered and it was not a case of having to rapidly jettison the first thing to come to hand for the good of the whole. The owners of the damaged goods can claim against the insurance carrier in a petition to be made whole.
But I have to agree with Mister Wayman, it is fortuitous that there was no light train passenger in the station. Goods can be replaced. People, no.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn lawyer.
Having seen the pictured mess in person, the $3Mil. charge is a bargain.
I am surprised NS hasn’t already discussed plans with the authority to make things right.
My thought is that that is a lot less than if an occupied light rail train had been in the station. Fatalities, hospital costs, rehab costs, would have been greater. I presume the people who were inconvenienced by the service interruption have no claim.
One of the reasons I’m glad there is no law of general average in rail transportation.