Dumont says CSX late on crucial repairs to railroad crossings, conditions remain dangerous

Ricardo Kaulessar | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption A train derailment is a concern for a Bergen County community Dumont is asking CSX to maintain the railroad running through town.

DUMONT — Every day, when freight trains travel through this town of 18,000 people, they do so over tracks in dire need of repair, borough officials say.

Councilman Andrew LaBruno, who will be mayor in January, said CSX Corp., which owns the tracks, committed months ago to making repairs before the year's end.

"CSX's engineering department, they assessed our crossings at Columbia, Madison, and New Milford [avenues], and they promised they would be replaced by this year. Meaning the end of the year 2019," LaBruno said. "But here we are now in the month of December and there's no repair."

New dog park: Tenafly dogs finally getting a place of their own

Earlier: Dumont administrator Thomas Richards on a mission to safeguard CSX rails

Instead, he said, the railroad company installed a temporary asphalt patch.

The problems with the tracks at those crossings, Borough Administrator Tom Richards noted last year, is that there are numerous rotted wooden crossties and spikes that are partly pulled up.

Richards said the repairs are crucial, since some of the trains that travel on the tracks carry crude oil or other volatile substances. That, he said, is a recipe for disaster.

LaBruno said CSX sent a letter to Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi in August, promising replacements of the Dumont crossings this year, as well as crossings on Church Street in Bergenfield, Haworth Avenue in Haworth and Broadway in Norwood.

He said the letter followed a meeting in May where a CSX vice president met with Schepisi and officials from Dumont, Haworth, Harrington Park and Norwood to address their concerns about the condition of the crossings. He said Rep. Josh Gottheimer has also been contacted about the situation.

But LaBruno said the only work done at any of the crossings happened last week, when temporary repairs were made to the New Milford Avenue crossing after complaints from drivers about the wood ties being dislodged when cars go over them.

"They put this cold patch, which is a very temporary solution. PSEG uses cold patch around emergency work when they know in a month or two they will replace it with a permanent solution," LaBruno said. "But you don't use it for railroad repair."

Richards, who has been speaking with CSX and the Department of Transportation for two years about the crossings, said Tuesday that the temporary repair is unacceptable.

"Now even the people who were there said this is not going to last, because the tracks are still bouncing up and down," Richards said, adding that the winter freeze will break up the patch.

"You see what happens to a pothole — it opens up. The same thing will happen here," he said.

A CSX representative said work on permanent replacements of all the crossings in Dumont and other towns will take place in the spring, and will entail replacement of asphalt and timber, but "exact timing and schedule of maintenance work is not available at this time." Maintenance crews will monitor the New Milford Avenue crossing before replacement work begins.

Schepisi said her office has been in regular contact with CSX and was told by a railroad representative Tuesday morning that the full replacement of the crossings did not take place in the fall because the Department of Transportation did not approve street detour plans "in a timely fashion."

She said her office will closely monitor the project.

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com Twitter: @ricardokaul