HOUSTON — The Houston Chronicle reported that a new plan to divert train traffic on a proposed rail line away from Houston’s East End neighborhoods addresses some concerns of residents, but not all, a neighborhood spokesman said.
A coalition of Houston Ship Channel companies headed by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. plans to build a line from Bayport through the East End to compete with the Union Pacific for chemical company business at the Bayport Industrial District.
The $80 million, 12.8-mile San Jacinto Rail was given conditional approval by the federal Surface Transportation Board late last month. But its first route through East End neighborhoods, where concerns about derailments and blocked streets already run high, drew opposition.
The new route, which has been submitted to the board, would eliminate the need for Burlington Northern to use the New South Yard north of Griggs Road, San Jacinto officials said.
That means no switching of rail cars would have to be done in the East End; a rail yard at Dayton, 30 miles northeast of Houston, would be used.
“What is new is that it is an alternative that is doable as opposed to just being another possible approach,” Burlington Northern spokesman Richard Russack said. “This is now the preferred one.”
Even with the change, residents of the East End remain concerned about train congestion in their neighborhoods, said Gregory Rincon, president of the Eastwood/Broadmoor Area Community Development Corp.
“Business owners are opposed to the amended route because it still does not address the issue of train blockages on the East Belt,” Rincon said.
Several weeks ago, Rincon wrote to the Surface Transportation Board to request that it retract its conditional approval for the proposed rail line.
San Jacinto Rail, which includes Lyondell Chemical Co., Equistar Chemicals, Atofina Petrochemicals and Basell USA, will continue to address concerns, spokesman Henry A. de La Garza said.
“We acknowledge there are issues with the community, and we are working through them to be a good neighbor,” de La Garza said. “The railroad is certainly doing everything it can to participate with the community.”
The partnership wants the project completed by the second quarter of 2004.
In all, six plans are under consideration by the Surface Transportation Board. If constructed, the new rail line would run from near Ellington Field to the end of the Bayport Industrial District, just east of Texas 146.
In giving its approval, the board found that the San Jacinto Rail line would increase competition among railroads by providing an alternative service for Bayport Loop shippers that depend solely on Union Pacific.
The revision before the Surface Transportation Board proposes that trains handling Bayport traffic would run from the Bayport Rail Terminal to the GH&H line adjacent to Texas 3, then up to the GH&H line north of Ellington Field and interchange onto the East Belt tracks near Tower 85 for movement to Dayton, with empty cars returning in the reverse direction.
Burlington Northern would connect to the new line through trackage rights, which the Surface Transportation Board will consider granting.
In addition to bypassing the New South Yard, the new plan avoids reverse movements of Bayport rail traffic at T&NO Junction, which could affect vehicles near Griggs and Mykawa roads, San Jacinto officials say.
The revision would divert Bayport traffic from a concentrated area of road crossings along the East Belt between the New South Yard and Polk Street, they said.
Rincon said the revisions only answer part of the concerns the community has about train traffic through the neighborhoods.
Just because Union Pacific is shipping products through the community now doesn’t mean products must continue to move through the area, he said.
“Let us change the way of thinking and start thinking on behalf of the community,” said Rincon, who also represents the Greater East End Coalition for Community Concerns.
Burlington Northern and Union Pacific have agreed to fund an independent rail study by the Texas Transportation Institute regarding ongoing area rail operations and their impact. The first phase of that study is expected to take about six months.