Future of railroad tracks in Sikeston unsure

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Union Pacific Railroad has placed a legal advertisement in Wednesday's Sikeston Standard Democrat that paves the way for an abandonment of the rail line that runs through Sikeston.

The notice includes an amended system diagram map and description of the rail line, which runs from Essex, Mo., through Sikeston to Miner, Mo. The ad says this rail line will be placed in "Category 1" and defines this category as a rail line that is "anticipated will be the subject of an abandonment application within three years." The application would be to the Surface Transportation Board, which must give its approval for the abandonment to take place.

"Abandon," in railroad terminology, means discontinuing rail service over a section of track. Abandonments are typically sought by railroads when they determine a line is not profitable or does not have enough traffic to justify continuing services there.

"This is part of the process that we go through to indicate that we may file an abandonment application on this line," said Kathryn Blackwell, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific. "It is not an application for abandonment."

Blackwell said the railroad must place the ad in one newspaper in each county the line in question goes through -- in this case, Stoddard, New Madrid and Scott counties.

The minimum time that must pass before filing an application is 60 days from the date when this initial ad runs.

"Prior to filing the application, we have to again advertise our notice of intent of abandonment," she said.

This notice is merely a "a first step," according to Blackwell. "I don't know that we're actually going to file the application."

City Manager Doug Friend said the city was contacted by Joe Bateman, a Union Pacific representative, on Monday.

"He called to give the city advance notice that Union Pacific was going to be publishing notice in the local paper that it is their intent to abandon the Union Pacific rail line from Essex to Steward Steel, approximately 20 miles of rail," Friend said. "We have not seen any text of any official filing. We have not received anything in writing -- the only thing we got was the phone call."

The Union Pacific tracks described in the notice are currently used by two area business: Tetra Pak Materials in Sikeston and Steward Steel in Miner. "We have been in contact with some of the impacted or affected industries," Friend said. "We've indicated to them that we are exploring all the options that would be available to the city. In addition, we have had a conversation with the Board of Municipal Utilities on items of mutual interest regarding that rail line."

Woody Gensler, manager of Southeast Cooperative Service in Morehouse, a distributor of fertilizers and agricultural chemicals, said the co-op had been using a spur off the line to receive fertilizer. "We got some stuff in last year on it," Gensler said.

Since then, however, the business has not had rail service as Union Pacific advised the co-op would need to repair their spur -- an investment the co-op was not willing to make at this time with the future of the rail line uncertain.

According to the legal notice, "Industries at Essex will be unaffected." "We want to protect the interests of our local industries and we want to protect the interests of our citizens and those will be our main focus as we go through this process," Friend said. At this point, however, it is "hard to comment on specifics or details."

"We are going to look at all angles. It would be our goal and intent to safeguard whatever is in the best interests of the city of Sikeston," he added. "The story is just beginning. When we learn more we will present options to the City Council and go from there."