(The following column by David Hendricks appeared on the San Antonio Express-News website on March 20.)
SAN ANTONIO — Union Pacific Railroad, the Omaha, Neb.-based dominant line in Texas, has come up with a surprising proposal to shift freight routes to accommodate passenger rail service in this part of Texas.
It is surprising because it would only shift freight trains east of Austin roughly from Georgetown to San Marcos.
The proposal, sought by the Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District, is being evaluated by the Texas Department of Transportation and Gov. Rick Perry’s office.
UP is saying it can shift freight traffic that normally travels from Georgetown to San Antonio through Austin, San Marcos and New Braunfels to other existing tracks that travel through Taylor, Elgin and Bastrop.
Another 18 miles of track could be built from the Bastrop area to direct freight trains to San Marcos, where it would continue along the same tracks now in use by UP.
In all, the proposed eastern route would be 12 miles longer than the existing freight route through Austin, but it would be quicker for UP and its customers because there are fewer rail-street intersections.
There’s just one problem.
The Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District wants to build passenger train service from Georgetown to a point near the planned Toyota assembly plant in South Bexar County, a 110-mile route.
If the passenger trains can’t operate on the same tracks with freight trains, what about the segment between San Marcos and San Antonio?
San Antonio lawyer Tullos Wells, who chairs the commuter rail district, said this is only an initial proposal from UP, that another proposal for the rest of the route would be pursued.
Wells said the district hopes for further proposals from UP by September.
The governor’s office, however, has become the lead negotiator with UP for this, instead of the commuter rail district, because the matter is becoming a statewide issue, Wells said.
“The governor is very interested in this corridor,” Wells added.
The governor’s office denies, however, that it is involved in the commuter rail district’s talks with UP over the passenger rail line. Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said the governor’s office is talking with Texas railroad companies only about getting freight trains out of city centers and neighborhoods and into rural areas.
Another surprise is the price tag UP put on its partial proposal — $500 million. Eighteen miles of new track and $500 million aren’t a match.
“Obviously, that’s the gold-plated version,” said John Langmore, a transportation consultant working for the commuter rail district.
UP won’t pay for new tracks or improvements, anyway. UP has no motivation to change freight routes unless someone else pays for it.
The $500 million price tag therefore is subject to negotiations between UP and the state.
Why does UP’s proposal go no farther south than San Marcos? No one is saying.
Apparently, however, this proposal is tied somehow to the construction of Texas 130, the planned toll highway that also bypasses Austin to the east, starting at Georgetown.
Texas 130 initially was supposed to run from Georgetown to Seguin to relieve traffic congestion on Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Austin. But only the northern segments of Texas 130 are under construction, roughly the stretch between Georgetown and the Creedmoor exit on I-35 near Buda, just north of San Marcos.
UP, therefore, conveniently has found a way to offer freight service along that same stretch so that Texas 130 doesn’t have to buy right of way and build new freight tracks alongside the new highway.
Wells and Langmore said the obvious solution to extend the new freight route is for new tracks to be built from the Bastrop-Lockhart area to near Seguin along with the rest of Texas 130, merging there with UP’s tracks between San Antonio and Houston.
That would free up the entire proposed passenger train route.
Right now, however, that part of Texas 130 isn’t planned. No one knows when it will be built or if railroad right of way will be acquired for that southern leg.
Langmore said the UP proposal is encouraging. Once the northern leg of Texas 130 is finished and UP shifts its freight trains east of Austin, there will be momentum to finish both the rest of Texas 130 and the new freight tracks to Seguin, making the commuter rail district possible, he said.
One can hope so. But a cynical point of view would sound this warning: As things stand now, only the northern legs of Texas 130 and the passenger rail line have plans. Neither goes south of the San Marcos-Lockhart area.
Is it possible the passenger rail line will operate only between Georgetown and San Marcos, along with Texas 130? That probably would suit Austin fine, if the economic numbers work out.
San Antonio would be left out of the benefits of both. If San Antonio doesn’t watch out, it could be stuck with nothing.