July 23, 2021
HORNELL, NY – Mayor John Buckley has issued his second statement, about Norfolk Southern, blocking traffic on the East Main Street railroad tracks.
Statement From Mayor John Buckley:
“Over the last several months, trains have been routinely stopping for hours on end, in the City of Hornell, at the East Main/Henry Street crossing. This is unacceptable, because police and fire services, including the ambulance, are effectively cut off and have to be re-routed around the entire city, which drastically increases (emnergency) response time. Obviously, it’s a huge inconvenience for motorists over that way, but even beyond that, I’ve had reports of children climbing to get to the other side to go to James Street Park, this is unacceptable for Norfolk Southern. So my office, the police department and the fire department have all been putting calls in to Norfolk Southern and we’ve all been ignored. So what I’ve done is I’ve reached out to Senator Chuck Schumer’s Office and I’ve reached out to Congressman Tom Reed’s Office and they’re working on it as well. This is just unacceptable, it’s a public safety issue and there’s just no reason whatsoever for them to park on that train track and block that crossing. So we’re doing everything that we can on our end, and we’ll continue to make the calls and do what we have to do, until this problem is solved.”
