CSX has once again started the fall and winter practice of leaving diesel engines sitting all night with engines running in downtown Apex. The engines aren't being used, they are just sitting there with the engines running after the CSX folks leave for a quiet night at home.
Wasting fuel, polluting the air with diesel fumes and creating a steady engine roar all night and all weekend when the train engines are not in use makes CSX an obviously poor neighbor. The roar of the engines is constant at all hours of the night and is accompanied by a frequent loud hiss of air when a pressure valve releases compressed air every two or three minutes. The end result is never having quiet at night in residential neighborhoods in the Center-Mason-Hunter Street depot area and beyond. For a good demonstration of the noise problem, try standing two blocks or further away along the sidewalk on Mason Street late at night and you will be amazed at the constant roar of the diesel engines and the hiss of air being released...
If you would like to help eliminate the noise and air pollution, click to contact the Apex Town Manager or your favorite Town Council member and ask them to put a stop to the noise. It's a simple matter of courtesy to the town to require the CSX folks to be good neighbors and turn the engines off at night and on the weekend. There is no technical reason for diesel engines to be left running all night and it's an obvious waste of energy during a time when the country is trying to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
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2 comments:
The Railroads are the higher authority in this country. The Town Council doesn't control them, and more than they control the DOT.
If they did we wouldn't have stalled projects due to crossing issues.
If you are concerned about Town Matters, I highly recommend attending Town Council Meetings and learning how these things work, as well as voicing your opinion. It's interesting and far more effective :)
Be involved! Help to look for and provide possible solutions.
Sitting at home reading and writing about it simply isn't the same.
Good idea. If more citizens would attend the meetings perhaps more could be done to get things done right.
I have attended a number of Town Council meetings and the citizen turnout is always sparse. Except of course when something that gets everyone riled up is up for a vote - then more folks turn out.
Emails to the Town Council and Town Manager get poor responses when asking them to make changes or do something outside their comfort zone. The Town almost always says matters on streets like Center and Salem and Old Raleigh Road are "state owned and maintained" and will usually not try to fix things on these roads even though they are inside the Town's corporate limits. And asking for them to require the railroad folks to clean up the rat infested CSX junk yard on Elm Street or turn off diesel engines at night are always "rejected" because the Town wants to stay on the good side of the RR folks in hopes of "someday" getting a crossing for the Peakway. Never mind if CSX creates a lot of noise and air pollution during the night or dumps lots of scrap junk in the parts dump area.
And then there is the tale of the super-safe pedestrian crossing near the Town Office complex. Yeah, right - now Apex has its own "bridge to nowhere" that ends on the Town Office Complex side of the tracks. $200+ thousand dollars for a crossing no one can use!
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