WCBC

July 5th, 2018 by WCBC Radio

Cumberland officials walked away from a 2 and a half hour meeting with CSX representatives on Thursday afternoon- optimistic that the groundwork has been put in place for  both short and long term solutions to the Westside bridge issues. While none of the CSX owned bridges will be re-opening anytime soon,  Mayor Brian Grim said  the plan now on the table is for a  temporary structure that will allow for easier access.  It was June 22^nd that  a  CSX train containing double stack cars  struck the Fayette and Washington street bridges causing further damage to the already deteriorating spans. The latest CSX incident led to the city requesting an emergency meeting. That meeting involved the city administrator,city  attorney, engineer as well as elected officials- and three CSX reps in attendance and one participating by conference call. Following that meeting, the mayor and Councilman David Caporale held an impromptu press conference. Grim said while not at liberty to go into many details, progress has been made. In addition to plans to build a temporary structure for the Westside, the mayor said the talks centered on  a memorandum of understanding that would transfer ownership of the bridges from CSX to the city. That would allow for federal funds to be secured for repairs or replacement.