(The Desert Sun published the following story by Kimberly Trone on its website on September 27.)
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — A $101 million railroad expansion under way in the Coachella Valley has some residents worried that more diesel-burning freight trains will degrade the desert’s fragile air quality and increase the likelihood of a serious accident.
From his front porch near the rocky foothills of Mount San Jacinto, Les Starks is able to observe the progress of workers as they lay a second pair of tracks from Windy Point to Thermal.
In 1999, a train derailed near Starks’ home in the Windy Point area, spilling 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel and causing $1.1 million in damage.
“The thing that concerns me most,” Starks said, “is the amount of diesel pollution that comes with an abundance of trains.”
Union Pacific is building a second set of rails through the Coachella Valley in anticipation of growth in its freight traffic, company spokesman John Bromley said. The expansion began two years ago in the Banning area and will eventually culminate in Thermal.
Union Pacific has recently purchased 1,000 cleaner-burning locomotives to reduce the degree of diesel emissions caused by trains, Bromley said.
The lengthy process of obtaining clearance from environmental agencies delayed the local expansion by two years, Bromley said, adding that Union Pacific has been given full environmental clearance.
Bromley said he could not provide details about how many trains Union Pacific expects to be running through the valley in the future.
As the Alameda Corridor accommodates greater train traffic barreling to and from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports of call, Bromley said Southern California’s rail system is already one of the busiest in the country.
The additional ribbon of Union Pacific steel being laid in the valley will parallel the company?s existing tracks and keep trains moving up the steep grades that often force them to idle on Coachella Valley tracks — burning fuel but going nowhere.
“I would say that an investment of more than $100 million will make the railroad a better railroad and, of course, improve safety,” Bromley said.
Union Pacific, the nation?s largest freight company, averages 42 trains a day through the Coachella Valley, lugging everything from automobiles to grain, toxic chemicals to nuclear waste.
Starks said he is wary that Union Pacific might be ramping up its infrastructure to pave the way for Los Angeles to send its trash by rail to a landfill in Eagle Mountain. “A lot of people are wondering,” he said.
There are no plans to provide rail service to the deserted mining station in eastern Riverside County, Bromley said. Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson, whose district includes Eagle Mountain, said he knows of no plan for Los Angeles to begin using Eagle Mountain as a dump site.
“It’s been tied up in court for 10 years, so I don’t imagine that will happen any time soon,” Wilson said.
As vice chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District board of directors, however, Wilson said he wishes Union Pacific would use cleaner fuel.
“They claim to be making an effort, but right now they’re doing as they please and running dirty,” he said.
But Wilson also said the trade off for train traffic would be thousands of more trucks on the road each day, which is even less desirable.
Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, said trains on average are three times cleaner than large trucks.
“We are talking about the emissions per ton mile,” he said. Freeways are paid for by taxpayers, White pointed out, but private investment pays for rail and infrastructure expansion. “Now,” he said, “rail volume is higher than ever before in history.”
The fastest growing aspect of rail, White said, is centered around the long distance transportation of trucks to locations where they can be dropped off to finish their route in shorter times and distances.
“Our best customers are trucking companies,” he said.
The economic advantages of playing host to a freight railroad system so far have been sparse for the Coachella Valley, according to Wilson.
Railroads pay no building fees to local governments. As Union Pacific increases the length and number of its trails, the region needs to build more grade separations to improve safety and congestion.
A bridge crossing under construction at Avenue 50 in Coachella, for example, is expected to run taxpayers about $9.4 million.
And more such grade separations are needed, especially in the rural east valley where cars, trains and pedestrians have been a deadly mix in recent years.