SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City plans to appeal two rulings in its legal battle with Union Pacific Railroad. Deputy City Attorney Steven Allred filed two notices of appeal this week in U.S. District Court. Briefs will be filed later, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Union Pacific and the city have been at odds since last summer, when the Omaha, Neb.-based railroad announced plans to reactivate the 900 South line, running up to 10 freight trains a day through the Glendale and Poplar Grove neighborhoods. Mayor Rocky Anderson summarily nullified a franchise agreement for crossing city streets with the railroad. Union Pacific appealed to federal regulators, and the city sued in U.S. District Court.
In March, the federal Surface Transportation Board decided that interstate commerce is more important than the quality of life in west-side Salt Lake City neighborhoods. A week later, U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart ruled that state and city laws are trumped by federal guarantees of the railroads’ near-sovereignty. Allred says the city hopes to consolidate its challenges of both decisions before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
“Obviously, there’s a burden that’s more pronounced on us on appeal,” he said. “But we think both the STB and the District Court were mistaken.”
Union Pacific spokesman Mike Furtney said the railroad company expected the city to appeal. “It’s really more procedural,” he said. “The city is making sure its options are open.”
Meantime, negotiations between the railroad and city officials continue. The sides have met once since Stewart’s ruling. Another meeting is scheduled for next week.