Railroad gives up on track swap

~ Local governments opposed the plan, saying the traffic would cause safety problems.

For over a year city leaders in Sikeston have been fighting against Union Pacific Railroad's proposal to increase traffic through their town. Within that year they were joined in opposition by county leaders, leaders in other Scott County towns and scores of concerned county residents.

On Friday, Sikeston's leaders received word that they'd won their battle against the railroad. Early Friday afternoon Union Pacific sent notice to the federal Surface Transportation Board that the company no longer sought to acquire the contentious stretch of track.

Sikeston Mayor Mike Marshall was prophetic in an interview Thursday, saying "we will win." Less than 24 hours later, that projection became reality.

"I think it's just fantastic," Marshall said Friday. "It shows that when people work together and get behind a deal that's as important as this railroad deal is for the future of Sikeston, they can change things. It's just great."

In March 2005, UP filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that regulates railroads, to acquire the rights to a stretch of track from Rockview to Sikeston from Burlington-Northern Santa Fe. Acquiring the track would allow UP to more efficiently run rail traffic through the area by routing traffic in opposite directions on two sets of track -- the stretch from Rockview to Sikeston and another stretch from Rockview to Dexter.

The proposal was half of a swap between UP and BNSF in which BNSF would acquire rights to UP track in Colorado. Permission for the Colorado part of the swap was approved by the STB in June.

UP's filing with the STB said the move would increase train traffic by 10 or 11 trains per day through Sikeston, but company representatives said that number could go higher.

Local governments were fiercely opposed to the plan, saying the increased traffic would cause safety problems both in cities and outside of them. The last government in the affected area to voice opposition to the plan was Chaffee. The city council there passed a resolution opposing the swap Aug. 21.

UP spokesman Mark Davis didn't say the withdrawal was a direct result of the opposition. He said UP decided to withdraw its request because the company needed to increase its freight capacity in the area now and the review process was taking too long.

The STB waited several months for UP to sign an agreement on the terms of an environmental review of the swap, which was received just a few weeks ago. When UP withdrew its petition, the environmental review had not yet begun.

As an alternative to the swap, local leaders had pushed for UP to install double track on the line from Rockview to Dexter.

Davis said UP has decided to double-track part of that line instead of seeking to acquire the Rockview to Sikeston line.

The move comes a little over a week after the city of Sikeston sent a filing to STB that asked the STB to dismiss UP's proposal on several grounds, from the length of time proceedings have taken to the safety issues involved. To create the documents, Sikeston used the help of a Washington, D.C., law firm and testimony from engineers concerning safety issues along the line. Sikeston also pushed for a more rigorous review process.

Sikeston leaders also met with U.S. Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson in mid-August. The congressional delegation pledged to fight for Sikeston against the plan.

Sikeston leaders credit those efforts with helping persuade UP to withdraw its petition.

"We made the case ... but without them presenting the case and without them advocating that position, that the alternative route was the preferred one, we probably could have shouted until we turned blue and nothing would have happened," said Sikeston resident Josh Bill, who worked closely with city leaders to oppose the swap.

Emerson and Talent said Friday that they had to side with their constituents on an issue like this one.

Talent speculated that the insistence by himself, Emerson, Bond and Sikeston leaders that the STB institute a more rigorous review of the swap might have been the final straw to make UP drop the petition. He and Emerson also said the thorough research by Sikeston's leaders gave the city a strong case against approval of the track acquisition.

"In my opinion, they went beyond the extra mile to have their facts in line," Emerson said. "I think UP realized that they probably weren't going to be able to fight the city on this."

msanders@semissourian.com

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