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Railroad Project to Cost Millions: West Rail Relocation Remains on Track

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Tony Vindell, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

Jun. 14--HARLINGEN -- A maintenance project Union Pacific is completing this month should not impact the proposed relocation of the railroad switching yard that cuts through Fair Park Boulevard, officials said.

The Omaha-based company has invested about $11.5 million to replace thousands of railroad ties and repair crossings along a 50-mile stretch from Brownsville to Raymondville, including several crossings in and around Harlingen.

It is part of the railroad's periodic maintenance project which Union Pacific is now performing around the country, a company spokesman said.

The maintenance is taking place at a time when a project to relocate the switching yard to Olmito is gaining some momentum.

Pete Sepulveda, director of transportation for Cameron County, said the relocation project is still on track.

"We have not stopped working on this railroad relocation project," he said. "In fact, we should get an assessment report in the next 90 days."

Sepulveda said he was aware of the improvements Union Pacific is making to its tracks and crossings, but said that project is part of preventive maintenance.

He said that should not interfere with the plan to reroute trains around the east side of town.

"The main goal is to have the switching yard in Olmito," Sepulveda said. "But this project should get under way in no less than five or six years."

The estimated cost of the project has been set at about $36.5 million, and much of that funding is yet to come.

Joe Arbona, a spokesman for Union Pacific's Southern District, which includes Texas, said relocating the train tracks or a yard requires huge amounts of money.

"There are a lot of railroad relocation projects in Texas," he said. "But the problem is that there is no funding for that."

He said railroad engineers, who developed one of the most efficient ways of distribution to move goods, built the existing railroad tracks many years ago.

Arbona said he wasn't familiar with specifics about the relocation project.

"The cost to relocate the railroad is prohibitive," he said. "But we are always willing to work with a local community whenever a project like this is in the works."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas)

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