I’m not the only Tribune reporter writing about CSX these days. My colleagues Lindsay Peterson and Yvette Hammett have both recently produced some worthy reporting on the company and its interactions with local governments.

Peterson’s story focused on how CSX can essentially name whatever price it wants to maintain rail crossings. She quotes Polk County’s own Steve Logan, who works in the county’s traffic engineering division.

Hammett’s story focused on Brandon’s efforts to create a “quiet zone” in the area. Lakeland hopes to create a similar quiet zone for its downtown. But it won’t be easy or cheap.

Here’s a money line from Hammett’s story:

“CSX wants $10,000 to $25,000 per crossing for a preliminary study to determine whether upgrades are needed. No money has been designated for that study.”

That’s before any upgrades are made.

And, as some of you may notice, $25,000 would be more than the roughly $21,000 Polk County is planning to pay a consultant to study the regional impacts of the CSX logistics center planned for Winter Haven. So, Lakeland could conceivably pay CSX more to study a single downtown rail crossing than Polk County pays the consultant.

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