Schumer seeks federal inspection of Syracuse elevated rail line, more inspectors in U.S.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) on Monday said the federal government should increase the number of federal railroad bridge-safety specialists nationwide.

Schumer spoke Monday at the corner of South Clinton Street and West Onondaga Street in Syracuse, near the site of the July 5 collapse of the concrete section of the elevated railroad bridge onto South Clinton Street.

The incident “shed even more light on the fact” that only six specialists are tasked with overseeing rail-bridge inspections and audits for the FRA, three of whom cover New York in addition to dozens of other states, the Democrat’s office said in a news release issued Monday. FRA is short for the Federal Railroad Administration.

Schumer also reiterated his demand that the FRA send a bridge-safety specialist to Syracuse “immediately” to independently inspect and audit the city’s elevated rail line following last month’s collapse.

“It’s been nearly two months since two 30-ton pieces of concrete sidewall collapsed onto South Clinton Street, yet the feds still have not sent an inspector to Syracuse for an independent review of the railroad’s assessment. While adding more federal inspectors will be a top priority moving forward, I am repeating my call for the FRA to send one of its current specialists to Syracuse for an independent federal inspection of the entire rail viaduct that runs through the city [as soon as possible]. It’s only through increased transparency that we can find out what went wrong in this situation so that we can work together to prevent future accidents,” Schumer said in the release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com