Seems like Port Canaveral’s railway freight services might not move forward as smoothly as some might have anticipated. Prior to the laying down of the tracks for theshippingbetween Port Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, more and more people have starting opposing the construction of this railway line. The shipping quote between the concerned partiesremained undisclosed.

Its biggest opponents include environmental tour operators, fishing charters and environmental advocates. The top five reasons for their opposition are enumerated below –

1)  Poor Air Quality

A big concern of advocates of the environment is that the diesel fumes from the upcoming railway freight services will give off exceeding amounts of CO2, thus polluting the air. This pollution can prove to be the cause of asthma attacks, increased risk of heart attacks etc in the due course of time.

2)  The  Indian River Lagoon

Pilings made of concrete will be built nearly 90 feet under the Banana River surface. Several hundred feet of the river will need to be filled in order to create a better support system for the railway tracks. The biggest concern for the fishermen of the area is that messing with the natural ecosystem of the river might choke/divert the river’s natural flow. This in turn will have an impact on the sea-grass strongholds there, one of the last of their kind there.

Worsened water quality concerns were also raised by giving example of similar railway lines built (the shipping quote of which were undisclosed to the public). Strips put up over 5 decades ago to support lagoon bridges resulted in lesser number of fish in the water bodies over the passage of time. Not to mention the fact that the algae starts collecting near causeways and decays. It emits an extremely putrid odor which can prove to be toxic to certain types of marine life, and extremely annoying to the residents living near the said water bodies.

3)  Hindrance in recreational activities

The lines from the Railway Freight Services will disrupt recreational activities like hiking, boating and fishing. Those wanting to hike on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge will have to face unnecessary delays. This will be because the rail tracks will make their way twice around the Oak Hammock Trail. This action will also have an impact the routes of bikers, especially the ones travelling on the Coast to Coast Bike Trail.

4)   Wildlife and wetlands

The Prime Scrub Habitat would be affected because the lines would be constructed right through their natural habitat. This will result in an obvious harm to the wildlife, not to mention the money that honest taxpayers of the city have been paying over the past decades to protect that very prime scrub habitat from any harm.

5)  Concern for Public safety

The number of footfalls will increase drastically due to increased business, and some people have shared their fears of people getting hit by the trains, the trains delaying emergency ambulance calls, and even cargo (for commercial purposes) being made to pass through what is clearly property of the NASA.

History has been proof to the undeniable fact that no human progress has been possible without sacrificing nature in the process. But does that mean that we should stop our progress? The railway freight service via the construction of a new railway lines in Port Canaveral (no shipping quote mentioned) is just one very small example in the entire grand scheme of things. Whatever the result will be, we wait with abated breath.

La entrada Issues with Railway Freight line at Port Canaveral aparece primero en Deliveries, Packing, Shipments - Cargorama Freight Forwarders.