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Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith today called on the federal Surface Transportation Board to hold a hearing in Oregon to take in testimony on the proposed abandonment of the Coos Bay rail line.
“A field hearing would provide local businesses and officials an opportunity to voice their concerns to the board regarding the proposed abandonment of the rail line, and for the board to gain further insight and understanding to the importance of rail service to the local communities and the state,” the senators wrote in a letter sent to Charles Nottingham, the STB chairman.
Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad filed an application earlier this month to abandon the 111-mile line between Eugene and Coos Bay. The line was shut down without notice in September, after the Roseburg-based railroad said conditions inside a series of tunnels had become too dangerous to allow trains to continue running the line.
At the same time, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay has petitioned the STB to obtain the line and contract with a short line company to operate the tracks. The port offered $9.8 million, what officials said the rail line’s assets were worth, to buy the line from CORP.
The Oregon Transportation Commission last week approved the use of $4 million by the port to buy the line. The money had previously been allocated to repair a railroad bridge near Coos Bay’s north spit.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio added language to a congressional bill to allow the port to do the same thing with $8 million previously appropriated for repair of the same bridge. He expects that bill to pass and be signed by President George W. Bush.
The action by Wyden, a Democrat, and Smith, a Republican, follows a similar request from the Coos-Siskiyou Shippers Coalition. In a letter sent Tuesday, Allyn Ford, the chief executive officer of Roseburg Forest Products, said a hearing in Oregon would give more local people the chance to address the board and listen to other testimony.
Wyden and Smith said the continued closure of the line has “caused significant hardship for businesses in southwest Oregon and has put at risk hundreds of jobs in an economically depressed region in the state.”
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
“A field hearing would provide local businesses and officials an opportunity to voice their concerns to the board regarding the proposed abandonment of the rail line, and for the board to gain further insight and understanding to the importance of rail service to the local communities and the state,” the senators wrote in a letter sent to Charles Nottingham, the STB chairman.
Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad filed an application earlier this month to abandon the 111-mile line between Eugene and Coos Bay. The line was shut down without notice in September, after the Roseburg-based railroad said conditions inside a series of tunnels had become too dangerous to allow trains to continue running the line.
At the same time, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay has petitioned the STB to obtain the line and contract with a short line company to operate the tracks. The port offered $9.8 million, what officials said the rail line’s assets were worth, to buy the line from CORP.
The Oregon Transportation Commission last week approved the use of $4 million by the port to buy the line. The money had previously been allocated to repair a railroad bridge near Coos Bay’s north spit.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio added language to a congressional bill to allow the port to do the same thing with $8 million previously appropriated for repair of the same bridge. He expects that bill to pass and be signed by President George W. Bush.
The action by Wyden, a Democrat, and Smith, a Republican, follows a similar request from the Coos-Siskiyou Shippers Coalition. In a letter sent Tuesday, Allyn Ford, the chief executive officer of Roseburg Forest Products, said a hearing in Oregon would give more local people the chance to address the board and listen to other testimony.
Wyden and Smith said the continued closure of the line has “caused significant hardship for businesses in southwest Oregon and has put at risk hundreds of jobs in an economically depressed region in the state.”
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
