by Kristina Gabalski
Motorists in the Village of Bergen, as well as those in Churchville, are enjoying a smoother ride over the CSX Railroad crossing.
Mayor Ralph Marsocci says the tracks in the village had been in rough shape for several years. The mayor directed Village Administrator Cortney Gale to contact CSX, which he did repeatedly via email and letters, but there was no response.
Mayor Marsocci was able to speak with lobbyist John Jennings during a recent Municipal Electric Utility Association meeting and Jennings provided contact information for the Vice President of Operations at CSX.
Mayor Marsocci says he then sent a letter to the CSX vice president and requested that Assemblyman Stephen Hawley and State Senator Mike Ranzenhofer do the same.
The extra effort paid off and the CSX vice president passed the letters on to local CSX Road Master and Structural Engineer Eric Wade who covers the rails from Macedon to Corfu.
Less than a week later, Wade called the mayor and the two met.
Wade told Marsocci that decisions regarding crossing work are made in Jacksonville, Florida and because of considerable work already scheduled, Bergen was not on the work schedule until 2016.
However, “After looking at the crossing with Mr. Wade, Mayor Marsocci was able to convince him that work was necessary and within two weeks, the village was put on the work schedule,” village officials said.
The work was completed in November and on December 14, the mayor, Assemblyman Hawley and Wade met at the Route 19 crossing in the village to view the completed work.
“I would like to thank Assemblyman Hawley and Senator Ranzenhofer for their help as well as CSX and Mr. Wade for their cooperation,” the mayor said.
