(The Associated Press circulated the following on April 13.)
COQUILLE, Ore. — Federal railroad officials have given the owners of a short line railroad linking Coquille and Eugene a month to prove it did not illegally abandon the route that is vital to south coast-area shippers.
It is the first federal demand to force the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad to explain itself, and could lead to a mandate to either abandon the railroad or to repair the aging tunnels that prompted the shutdown six months ago and reopen the line. The federal Surface Transportation Board questioned the railroad company’s claims made when it closed the line and about its appeals for public funding since then.
Lawmakers and advocates for the four major affected industrial companies welcomed the news. The added expense of shipping by truck or barge has cost between $3 million and $4 million this year, said Bob Argon, executive director of the Douglas Timber Operators.
CORP closed the line under federal rules that allow for an embargo, which is supposed to be a temporary emergency stoppage.
But lawmakers question the motives for the closure expressed by the short line’s parent company, Florida-based RailAmerica.
Initially, RailAmerica said the line didn’t have enough business to justify the repairs but said it could be reopened if a shipping container terminal could be built.
Later the company revealed that it had known about the unsafe tunnel problems it gave as cause for the shutdown for at least a year, which led to questions about the company emergency declaration.
To the critics it sounded like a complete abandonment of the line, which requires more notice, government approval and spending money to remove the lines infrastructure, state Sen. Joanne Verger said.
the railroad would have to pay for all the dismantling of those bridges and everything that has to do with that line, Verger said.
Verger and other lawmakers have been pressing the company to justify its embargo and to set a date for repairing and reopening the line.
But the line’s parent company has asked for a taxpayer bailout for the $2.9 million required to repair the three tunnels plus $20 million in improvements.
It sought $4.66 million from each of four entities: the state of Oregon, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, a consortium of shippers on the line, and Union Pacific Railroad Co., CORPs connecting rail carrier.
Led by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, the groups insisted that RailAmerica fix the tunnels first and reopen the line.
RailAmerica still indicates it will not repair the three tunnels until it has secured funding for the additional work
Federal law requires rail carriers to provide service upon reasonable request, allowing for temporary suspensions in case of weather or flood damage, tunnel deterioration or traffic congestion.
But the government order says a carrier cannot decide not to serve just because of circumstances that make it difficult or expensive.
The law requires rail companies to reopen embargoed lines in a timely fashion or abandon them. RailAmerica’s actions suggest that CORPs embargo of the line, although it may have been reasonable, may have lasted too long, the board said.
Kulongoski and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., have been pressuring the transportation board and RailAmerica for a speedy solution.
DeFazio noted that the company recently agreed with pop singer Michael Jackson to help him come up with the $24.5 million to keep the Neverland Ranch in California from going to auction.
If they can afford that, DeFazio said, they can afford to fix and reopen the line.