(The following story by Greg Stiles appeared on the Mail Tribune website on May 14.)
MEDFORD, Ore. — Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad parent RailAmerica has had its say about its shuttered rail line in southwestern Oregon. Now the so-called stakeholders of the Coos Bay Line are ready to rebut the RailAmerica’s justification for shutting down the rail line between Coquille and Eugene last September.
RailAmerica told the Surface Transportation Board in a statement filed Monday it will begin the process of abandoning the line that flows southwest from Noti, but plans to continue operation between Noti and Eugene. RailAmerica said the capital investment required to complete the repairs cannot be economically justified. The abandonment process could take years, forcing shippers to find alternatives.
“The story has been sugar-coated,” said Bob Ragon, executive director for the Douglas Timber Operators. “We want to present the rest of the story to the Surface Transportation Board.”
The Coos-Siskiyou Shippers Coalition, Port of Coos Bay and representatives of the Oregon Department of Justice met Tuesday to outline their response to RailAmerica.
“Our goal is to have RailAmerica not running the line and to get a new owner and operator,” Ragon said. “In our view, the best owner would be the Port of Coos Bay and it would be in charge of getting a new operator.”
STB rules give the group 10 days to respond to RailAmerica, before the federal regulator makes its decision on whether CORP acted illegally in embargoing the line starting last September. But Ragon said the group — which plans to offer three separate but cohesive responses — will ask the STB for an extension until June.
“It’s a complicated issue and we want to make sure each of the three parties is more or less on the same page,” Ragon said. “We’re not going to support that abandonment if ‘abandon’ means that they don’t give up all the rights to the line.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has been critical of CORP’s lax maintenance practices.
“After draining all the profits out of the rail line, CORP is attempting to just walk away rather than live up to its obligation to make the improvements necessary to keep it open,” Wyden said in a statement. “As the STB considers this filing, as well as those of the shippers and the state, I hope we can find a way for the line to be operated by someone committed to providing quality transportation and maintaining the economic vitality of southwestern Oregon.”
CORP also runs the Siskiyou Line between Weed, Calif., and Eugene, a line it has also threatened with closure. Timber Products converted shipment of veneer from its plant in Yreka, Calif., to trucks a month ago, but CORP assistant general manager Patrick Kerr said the company is still carrying logs for Roseburg Forest Products over the Siskiyou Summit.
While RailAmerica owns the tracks between Eugene and Coos Bay, it leases the Siskiyou Line tracks from Union Pacific. Ragon said his group has talked to three shortline operators interested in operating the line.