SEPTEMBER 2008: AROUND THE STATE
Rail fight gets hotter
COOS BAY The battle over the Central Oregon and Pacific
Railroad — the 126-mile line between Coquille and Eugene
that serves forest product, natural gas and manufacturing
companies — is turning into a full-bore train wreck as
the conflict jumps from Oregon to Washington, D.C, and
back.
Boca Raton, Fla.-based RailAmerica, which owns the line, shut
it down last year due to critical problems in three of the
line’s 125-year-old tunnels. The company wanted the state
and private companies to foot the majority of a $30 million
repair bill but failed; it’s now asking the federal
Surface Transportation Board if it can abandon the line.
In Oregon, opposition to that request has been unanimous. Sen.
Ron Wyden went so far as to block a White House nominee for the
STB as a way to highlight his opposition to the agency possibly
closing the line. U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, added
legislation to a bill that would give the Port of Coos Bay $8
million to buy the railroad (another $4 million would come from
the Oregon Transportation Commission).
Marin Callery, director of freight mobility at the port,
estimates coastal shippers are losing $500,000 a month because
of the closure. The SBA was expected to hold a hearing in
Eugene — the first step in determining the fate of the
line — in late August.
ABRAHAM HYATT
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