PORTLAND, Ore. — The Statesman-Journal reports that a deal between two railroads may mean changes in the flow of train traffic through the mid-Willamette Valley and millions of dollars’ worth of rail improvements, state transportation officials said.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc., parent company of the Portland & Western Railroad, has signed a 15-year agreement with The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. to lease a 76-mile rail line between Salem and Eugene. Officials with the publicly held companies said they signed the deal earlier this month.
Bob Melbo, a former president of Portland & Western who now works for the state transportation department’s rail division, said federal officials still need to approve the deal. The transaction would take about 60 days to be finalized.
“Both railroads believe this will be a win-win for everybody, for the customers who use the rail as well as the two railroads participating in the agreement,” Melbo said.
Railroad officials said the agreement also provides for upgrading about 20 miles of the line south of Salem by 2006. Planned upgrades include replacing rail, originally installed in 1912, with heavier rail. It will allow increased speed for train traffic and better service for customers.
Burlington Northern will provide the rail for the project, and Genesee & Wyoming will provide the other materials. Company officials declined to disclose the size of the investments in rail improvements, but Melbo estimated that the upgrades would cost about $4 million.
Changes in routing discussed by the railroads could mean four trains a day passing through Keizer, which hasn’t seen regular train movements since 1995, Melbo said. For Salem residents, the most noticeable changes would be an extra train a day passing through the city and perhaps seeing Portland & Western’s black and orange locomotives in addition to Burlington Northern trains, he said
Genesee & Wyoming officials said they expect the new rail line will add approximately 20,000 carloads of traffic a year to its operations, including loads of paper, lumber and agricultural products. The rail line is contiguous with its Portland & Western Railroad and will increase the size of the company’s Oregon region to 523 miles.
“The addition of the line is a good illustration of our strategy of building regional rail systems. We entered Oregon in 1993, and this transaction represents our fourth acquisition in the region,” said Mortimer Fuller, chairman and chief executive officer of Genesee & Wyoming, in a statement issued by the company.