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Metro is fighting a frustrating problem on its light rail line.

It's something Tom Bazan, a former electronics worker, has researched for months causing him concern.

"I fear the only way to cure it is to shut the system down," said Bazan, a community advocate.

Metro's light rail line is leaking electricty into the ground and has been for 18 months.

The problem is stray current is corrosive. And Bazan fears it's eating up the steel rods in the concrete foundation of the I-45 Pierce Elevated bridge.

Over time, Bazan believes the freeway could collapse.

"It's inevitable. If they don't cure the problem. It will collapse," he said. "I don't know when, but it will."

TXDOT told 11 News it hasn't checked the foundation of the Pierce Elevated. There's no need to, it says, unless engineers find evidence there's a problem. But Metro was concerned enough to ask if it could take a closer look itself.

Metro hasn't done that yet, but a spokeswoman said the public shouldn't worry about the leaking electricty.

"The amount that we're talking about is so small, Jason, that we're talking about a 9-volt battery being discharged from our rail line over the course of a day," said Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts.

But in August, Metro asked its contractor, Siemens, to reimburse taxpayers for $917,000 it spent trying to track down the source of the problem.

"It's a contractural thing. If you bought a car and it was under warranty and you thought there was something wrong you'd want to get it fixed. Well, we want to get it fixed," said Roberts.

Metro said even though it can't pinpoint the source of the ongoing electricty leakage, neither the public nor the I-45 bridge is in danger.

But Bazan doesn't buy it.

Not until corrosion engineers certify the elevated freeway as safe.