Soil work under way at 503 site
Published 7:00 pm Monday, April 30, 2018
By Ken Stickney
Private contractors pushed ahead Monday with mandated soil remediation work at Bryan Park, and a Port Arthur spokesman said the city should meet a state-imposed May 11 deadline, perhaps with a week to spare.
Heavy equipment was on site Monday at the Kansas City Southern Locomotive 503, which was moved Friday night from its previous site in the park and onto 120 feet of new track nearby.
In the train’s wake was soil contaminated over the years by oil leaks from the engine and attached tender. That site was the focus of a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality decision, rendered last year, that said Port Arthur must remove the contaminated soil and replace it.
“The remediation is taking place right now as we speak,” said Gaylon Cooper, assistant city attorney. He said the job probably would be completed by Friday, a week ahead of the TCEQ deadline.
The engine, which has been exhibited in Port Arthur to herald the city’s connection to Kansas City Southern and the rail industry, has spent much of the last 60 years at Bryan Park on Gulfway Drive.
Over the years, the 503 has decayed, a plight made evident after Tropical Storm Harvey last August. Back then, neighbors feared that because of flooding asbestos on the train and oil leaks under it might contaminate nearby homes and businesses.
The state gave Port Arthur a March 6 deadline to remediate the soil, which was extended first to April 20 and then to May 11.
Lucio Alvarez, site superintendent for Inland Environments of Port Arthur, said soil work may be done by as early as Wednesday. He said the contractors would take site samples, sending them to a lab, until the soil becomes clean.
“With spills you never know. You don’t know how long it has been leaking so you dig until you find good work,” he said.
Contaminated soil will go to an appropriate disposal site, he said.
Cooper said after the state mandate is fulfilled, the train’s future will be up to the City Council.
