This is more than a tale of two bridges

The July 12 editorial “Taking on Trains” acknowledged that “the railroad is a longterm neighbor looking to expand its reach for its own good and for broader economic gain.” The Post-Gazette’s editors and its readership deserve more information about the health effects of the railroad’s plans.

Usingthe railroad’s own 50train-per-day estimate (and nothing restrains the dispatchers from doubling that number), the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Environmental Health has calculated that — depending on the weight of each of the 50 trains — residents of the densely populated neighborhoods along the route will experience the equivalent of concentrated exhaust fumes ofbetween 3,400 and 14,500 dieselbuses each day.

It further calculated that 112,189 people along that route are within the train’s black carbon diesel fallout zone — almost 10 percent of the entire county’s 2016 population. Moreover 82,110 of those people (or 73 percent) live within “Environmental Justice” blocks. Left unrestrained, the railroad will expose residents to proven increases in cancer, lung disease, heart disease and asthma. Placing such an additional strain on our already distressed populations is simplyunfair.

Norfolk Southern should agree to implement currently available technological solutions — for example, using black carbon scrubbers. Instead, the railroad has totally rejected any options. As for mitigating their physical presence on the North Side, a less intrusive alternative is for them to lower the two middle tracks, leaving the two outside tracks untouched. That would overcome the railroad’s concern for the expense related to undermining the walls in the trough through the park. It would entirely alleviate the need to raise the bridges. It would enable the underlying brick infrastructure to be replaced or reinforced. For more impacts, requirements and options, please go to bit.ly/Requirements_Options. BARBARA TALERICO

North Side