SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County commissioners fired back Wednesday at Union Pacific Railroad, vowing to make life difficult for the carrier if it stands in the way of efforts to attract a Toyota manufacturing plant to the San Antonio area, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
“If this project fails and they (Toyota) don’t come to Texas and the only reason they don’t come is because of Union Pacific, I think that would be a tremendous headache for that (railroad) company,” County Judge Nelson Wolff said Wednesday.
The frustration of county officials boiled over a day after a Union Pacific official said the company wasn’t interested in allowing a competing rail line to use its tracks.
The ability of more than one railroad to service a potential Toyota plant has emerged as a stumbling block because the automaker is said to be concerned about keeping its shipping costs down.
As the dominant railroad company serving San Antonio, Union Pacific is a party to numerous agreements with area governments all the way from temporary road closure arrangements for maintenance of railroad crossings to more complex, long-term contracts for rail service, County Commissioner Lyle Larson said.
“We need to explore all of these licensing agreements and let’s see if we want to renew them,” Larson said, explaining local governments can find lots of ways to hold Union Pacific accountable to the community.
“What has Union Pacific done for this community other than pull dollars out of it?” he said. “We’re asking for their cooperation to help us pull in a major manufacturing plant to this community.”
Throughout his career as an elected official, first on the San Antonio City Council and now on Commissioners Court, Larson has complained that Union Pacific has been arrogant toward the community.
“I can tell you, they are used to coming in and running over people. We need to treat them with the same dignity — or lack of dignity — in the way they deal with this community,” Larson said.
The verbal barbs came as Commissioners Court voted unanimously to create a new countywide rail financing district with the powers to raise money for development of new railroad tracks and other facilities to serve local freight-hauling needs.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis, reiterated by phone from railroad headquarters in Omaha, Neb., that UP is not interested in letting a competitor use its tracks to serve the prospective site for a proposed $750 million Toyota automotive plant.
Although the Japanese-based automaker has confirmed only that it’s considering development of a sixth North American manufacturing plant, San Antonio is reported to be competing for the prospective plant with Marion, Ark., across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tenn.
Toyota officials want service from at least two competing railroad companies at any prospective site. The tracks passing closest to the Marion, Ark., site already serve two competing rail companies — Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe lines, said Jeff Moseley, executive director of the Texas Department of Economic Development.
The tracks closest to the prospective Bexar County site are owned and used exclusively by Union Pacific.
“We would not let Burlington Northern have direct access on our line,” Davis said.
Davis added, however, that Toyota is a longtime Union Pacific customer and the railroad is negotiating directly with the automaker to “make it so that access to another railroad becomes a non-issue.”
“We’re not opposed to the rural rail transportation district, but we’ll need to see more details,” Davis said. “We’re continuing to work with Toyota.”
The Bexar County Rural Rail Transportation District created Wednesday by commissioners won’t have powers of taxation, but it will have powers of eminent domain and the authority to accept grants and loans, sell revenue bonds and pursue other financing mechanisms to acquire property and develop rail facilities.
One expert told county officials that such districts often serve consumers by forcing the giant railroad companies to address local needs at fair prices.
“It’s a great opportunity for creating rail service,” Moseley told the court.
After the vote, Moseley confirmed UP representatives were negotiating directly with a “prospective” industrial development, declining to confirm or deny that Toyota is the subject of his agency’s efforts. But Moseley did say Burlington Northern already has an agreement to use Union Pacific tracks outside of Marion, Ark.
“We want the same package (of rail service) that Union Pacific is giving West Memphis, Ark.,” Moseley said, referring to the prospective Marion, Ark., plant site.
The Toyota plant is expected to have a total annual payroll of $265 million and generate 16,000 new jobs at the factory and at local suppliers and support businesses.
Davis said Union Pacific currently is one of two railroad companies serving Toyota’s San Jose, Calif., plant and hauls Toyota automobiles from several U.S. ports.
But if Union Pacific manages to negotiate an exclusive agreement to serve the automaker in Bexar County, it would be the first such exclusive shipping agreement between the two corporations.